Trope
by PseudoSim
Summary: With an index of 'powers' filed away in her mental rolodex Taylor Hebert does battle. On, and off, the streets of Brockton Bay.
1. Chapter 1

And who says TV Tropes isn't a complete time sync.

Trope

* * *

Peering down to the street below with a growing scowl I accidentally inhaled a bit of dust, and sneezing into my arm I let out an explosive- "Ah-tchew!"

I also let the asian ganbangers I'd been stalking know that they had unwanted company. Sometimes I hate my power.

Sighing, I stood up from the edge of the rooftop that had been concealing me and mentally flicked through my mental rolodex until I had the selection I wanted. Then, likely in awe of the magnificence that was myself, a few of them raised their guns in my direction. They were mostly pistols admittedly, but it was still a challenge… damnit, it was doing it again.

Oh well, _DYNAMIC ENTRY_ : _ACTIVATE_.

Stepping off the edge of the building, I briefly looked over the assorted thugs and angled myself toward the largest one of the bunch. A big, but not big-big, man with a vaguely familiar looking Dragon mask and colourful tattoos covering his upper body. He'd do.

Flashing forward, I was suddenly kicking off the face of a thug. Then, as I accelerated forward again I stuck my foot out and spun half a rotation and on the last half of it the top of my foot was smashing into the side of the masked man's chest.

He went _flying_ into the side of a warehouse the group had been gathering outside of, the sheet metal buckling and tearing as he smashed through it and into the buildings interior.

My body acting against my will I raised my arms and spread my feet as I took on the _VICTORY POSE_. Man that was sure a pain, but I guess it meant that I'd beaten the strongest of the group… right?

The thugs around me took a collective step back as I lowered my arms to my sides and looked around at them. Then most of them fled.

"Well, I guess I did beat the strongest of the bunch, who woulda thought that actually works... Huh, guess you learn something everyday."

The street was suddenly lit up red and orange, and what few of the thugs were still around me suddenly turned around and fled as a low growling started up behind me.

I turned toward the sound, expecting to see some rabid dog or something but instead I saw the warehouse I had smashed the masked man into up in flames. There was also a Dragon-Masked-Man that was now rather larger, and not to mention much more skaley, than he had been a minute earlier tearing his way out of the now too small hole he had made.

"Ah," I muttered as pieces of information clicked together and I remembered where I'd seen that mask before. It belonged to Lung, leader of the ABB… hm.

"KRILL RU!"

The heat and intensity of the flames coming off the warehouse kicked up several notches as he pointed a taloned finger at me.

My index thrumming with excitement, It _helpfully_ shuffled forward one of my selection and I activated the _INVINCIBLE HERO_. Unfortunately, _QUIPS_ activated along with it but beggars can't be choosers.

"Whelp, there goes the neighborhood."

+X+X+X+X+

Accelerating to speeds far beyond the speed limit I swerved around a fire truck that had parked itself in the middle of the street and sped into the chaotic hell of fire and destruction that the docks had become.

"Colin, please. Just wait for backup to catch up. The level of destruction that the two of them are doing-" Dragon, trying, in her own way, to help. But it wasn't the right type of help I needed.

"Can't, whoever Lung is fighting is being driven back. If the fight gets out of the docks we won't be able to contain the damage to unpopulated areas."

"...There's no arguing with you is there."

I didn't bother to respond as I weaved past a pothole and pressed my thumb to the boost, while making a mental note that incorporating it into the grip could be potentially beneficial.

"Fine," she bit out in frustration. "Extrapolating from the path they're taking, if you take a right on Brooks you'll be able to intercept them in point five point four Kilometers."

"Thank you," she cared, in her own way, and I knew I wasnt the… most comfortable person to be around at times, as Assault repeatedly needled me about. But at least she was able to understand me.

"Thank me by not getting burned up and getting out before you get over your head- Update: Dauntless enroute, ETA Four minutes and Velocity just reported back in. From what he saw Lung is currently at level three... and there's another thing, while passing by Velocity said he felt something, like he was stronger and he says it was easier to run. A Trump-Shaker power on the part of whoever is fighting Lung perhaps, but if so keep mindful of your limits- keep your head on straight and if Lung reaches level five you get out of there."

"But-" I tried to argue that _technically_ , the suit I was wearing had the potential to survive Lung up to level seven. It just hadn't been tested yet, just like the sedative I hoped would be able to put Lung down. She wouldn't hear it though.

"No Colin, you get out. The thermal shielding is still imperfect and the dampeners still aren't ready. No arguments."

"... Fine." I reluctantly acquiesced, her tone brokering no disagreement.

A neon green arrow appeared in my visors heads-up-display at the center of an intersection coming up. A few seconds later I turned right on it and I saw an explosion of flame light up the night sky a block to the left and I almost missed the waypoint arrow in the middle of the street that designated the intercept point.

Slowing to a complete stop took less than five seconds, thanks to the inertial dampeners I'd recently installed, and I was able to dismount the bike and send it away in time for a slight figure to smash through the brick front of the warehouse I'd stopped in front of.

Tumbling through the air in a shower of rubble they came down in a three point crouch, digging dug furrows into the decaying asphalt of the street with their landing. Definitely a Brute aspect then. From the within the warehouse the cape had emerged from a red glow illuminated the street and a window shaking roar shook the air.

In that brief time I unclamped and unfolded my halberd from my back and took in the cape, absently making sure my suits camera and sensor suite was transmitting everything I was seeing and sending it back to base.

Slowly, they stood up from there landing and I examined them; an analysis subroutine in my visor activating and aiding the process. They were female, a young teen most likely; judging by her lack of development in the hip and chest area. Wards age most likely, but that could come later. Tall for her presumed age; five-five, maybe five-eight. A side effect of her trigger maybe? She was wearing a black, shortsleeve shirt that her long dark hair hung down to the middle of; with simple blue jeans and sneakers to complete the ensemble.

Also of note was there there wasn't a single burn or blemish visible on her, despite having just crashed through a wall and torn of the street. Definitely evidence toward the possibility of a Breaker or Shaker aspect to her power; a personal shield such as Glory Girl's perhaps.

Finally rising to her full height she cracked her neck with an audible pop and looked to me, a slightly too wide mouth showing teeth bared in a vicious grin with the light of the fires across the street reflecting off a pair of aviator sunglasses. Unhelpfully, a behaviour analysis subroutine popped up warning about the probability of the cape being of questionable sanity.

"So," she mused nonchalantly as the warehouse she had come from exploded in flame and lung came bursting forth; fully scaled, over two meters tall and an aura of flame covering him. "-you're' the _SIDEKICK_ are you? I mean, you've got the _FASHIONABLY LATE_ part down right but you could have probably gotten here a bit earlier y'know. Just sayin'."

A flash of motion and fire from the peripheral sent up instinctual warning bells and I leapt back, away from an onrushing Lung that slammed into the young came. But her feet blurred, she twisted and suddenly lung with thrown back in a textbook throw.

The Alexandria-esk feat was nearly surprising enough that I _almost_ didn't notice that I had jumped back much farther than my suit should have been capable of. And I _almost_ missed the near intangible shiver that went through my body at the words _SIDEKICK_ and _FASHIONABLY LATE_.

+X+X+X+X+

While on the outside I was grinning like a complete loon, on the inside I was blushing like a fire hydrant. _Armsmaster_! I had designated _Armsmaster_ of all people as _SIDEKICK_. I'd probably die of shame when this was all over. But, on the upside to him showing up a new selection had been pulled up for me to use and I immediately activated _MULTI-MELEE MASTER_.

And, as a flood of knowledge entered my mind and body, I reached out as I dodged Lung and hooked my arm around a metal street light; ripping it out of the ground with a heave and twist of my body. Lung came about for another charge and I brought nearly unwieldy length of metal around in a spin that caught the enraged Dragon-Man in the ribs.

For the second time that night I made him fly. Speeding away from me Lung smashed into the burning rubble of the warehouse that he had punched me through.

Twirling the pole like it was a simple baton and not a several hundred pound length of metal; I rested it on my shoulder as it shifted, compressed and shrunk down to the size of a somewhat larger and thicker than what could possibly be normal staff. Heh. I loved my powers.

Looking over Armsmaster I grinned as the flames around the warehouse exploded into a column of flame and an shadow rose up from within it.

"You better get ready _SIDEKICK_ , because this is round two."

* * *

Hoh boy, i've had this one on the books for a long time and man i'm damn glad with how it came out on the first draft.

Also, the underlined portions were links that lead to TV Tropes but... yyyeeaaah.

Never Back Down by Nine Lashes


	2. Chapter 2

With a deft spin of my newly forged staff I pushed forward with a burst of acceleration, and smashing one end of the staff into the pavement in front of me I was suddenly rushing into the air as the staff extended to drive me skyward.

Seconds later, and at least a hundred feet forward and above where I had initially started from, the staff stopped extending and the length of the now smaller diameter rod recondensed as I began to fall. But it didn't go back to being a staff, oh no. I couldn't help but let out a mad cackle as _FINISHING MOVE_ slotted forward in my selection and: ACTIVATED.

I swung the haft of my weapon as I entered the column of flame that Lung was outputting and, shifted my grip, and brought my newly formed Polehammer down upon Lung; its massive head displacing the air in its path. The teeth of the hammer's head were but mere _inches_ from the Dragon-Man's head when something slid out of place in my rolodex and slotted into an empty space designated as _ENEMY_.

The something, _JUST IN TIME_ : ACTIVATED.

Oh son of a bit-

Lung's arms came up as he turned out of the way of my oversized hammers path of destruction, reached out and caught its haft in one scaled hand while the other wrapped around my leg. For the briefest of instances I met Lungs intense and fiery gaze through my shades. His half-mouth, half-maw split into a savage grin of victory.

"GROT RU!"

so ugly, dont even know why she even bothers

The sudden introduction of my back to the rubble of the burned down warehouse came a second later and the clawed foot that smashed down onto my middle threatened to make me force the air from my lungs. I could only goodness for _INVINCIBLE HERO_ as the heat was jacked up, though no effect except an angry growl. And another second after that the clawed foot kicked me from the rubble and into the warehouse across the street.

Sighing, I pushed myself onto my hands and knees to the tinkling of breaking glass and whispers.

I've said it before, but sometimes… sometimes I just fucking hate my powers.

The short, crisp rasp of metal sliding on metal made me turn to see a disheveled man standing a few feet away and pointing a gun at me… sideways, because of course he couldn't even holding it correctly.

Glancing around me I saw several other men; frozen in place as they stared at me, most in only there underwear and holding milk crates filled with bottles, jugs and baggies of crystals. I looked around the rest of the warehouse to see row upon row of bunsen burners set up on folding tables. Wonderful, a drug lab.

I turned back to the man with the gun on me and noticed the gun shake a little as I did so. And he was probably stoned to boot. Doubly wonderful.

What _r_ _eally_ caught my attention, however; was the large plastic he held loosely in one hand. A bit of the dirty label stood out in relief, surrounded in warning labels as it was. HCI, or, as the teacher said in Chem', " _Hydrochloric Acid, one of the few things that will reliably ruin your day faster than an Endbringer._ "

Before the man could do anything I reached out, snatched the jug from his grip and stood. A bullet ricocheted off the back of my head. Slowly looking back, I bared my teeth and one of the few clothed men dropped the pistol he'd used to try and shoot me.

Turning back, I started walking back to the hole I had made with my entrance into the building. I _so_ didn't have time for that kind of stupidity.

Stepping out of the hole and into the street I came to the sight of Lung facing off with Armsmaster, the latter doing his best to evade the former as the Dragon-Man swung around my oversized pole hammer like it was a toy; doing his damnedest to turn my _SIDEKICK_ into so much tomato paste on the asphalt.

I made a quick check of my selections to make sure everything was back to where it was supposed to be while Lung roared and swung down at _my_ _SIDEKICK_. Missing, he smashed _my pole_ hammer into the street; the ground buckling around where it had struck, its head buried deep.

she should just go, nobody wants here here anyway

Hefting the jug and waiting for the right moment, I brought _SPEED BLITZ_ _,_ _CRITICAL HIT_ and _DYNAMIC ENTRY_ to the fore of my selection just as a new player entered the battlefield. Idly, I noted with absent interest as an _ALLY_ designated slot appeared next to my mental rolodex.

Clad in white body armor and a helmeted visor, he fell from the sky at terminal velocity and hammered his closed fists into Lungs' head just as the Dragon-Man was able to tear the head of my pole hammer from the street.

Losing his grip on the weapon's haft, the supervillain _bounced_ off the ground.

I seized the initiative in that moment, ACTIVATING: _SPEED BLITZ_ _,_ _CRITICAL HIT_ and _DYNAMIC ENTRY_ , I flashed forward before the latter two could recede and just as Lung began to rise I smashed the jug into his face; splitting apart with the force in which I'd swung it, the clear liquid inside splashing out and immediately began eating into the silver scales on his face. _Stepping_ again, I grabbed up my hammer and swung it up and into Lung's crotch in a vicious, underhand swing.

He went up, and another _step_ later I was up in the air with him; already ready to _DROP THE HAMMER_ , and then he was going back down again. The ground _shattered_ where he landed, buckling and breaking in shallow crater of broken street. It wasn't enough though.

"GIRLY, HIT ME!"

-so pathetic… not even worth

My powers and I reacted instinctively to the _ALLY's_ command. _EQUIPPABLE ALLY_ shot out of my mental rolodex to activate on ALLY ASSAULT's slot while I brought my hammer up, spun on my heel and smashed it into the man as he jumped at me.

The blow caught him dead center of his chest piece and on the inside my heartbeat stilled as the white armored man rocketed back toward Lung, who had just risen from his crater wreathed in fire like a monstrous demon from the very pits of hell. He was _big_ , big-big now and easily twice the size he had been when I had fist kicked him; his face extended and still dissolving from the acid, a long tail whipping out behind him and little wings poking out over his shoulders.

Assault hit him like a freight train smashing through a little car at full speed. One second Lung was roaring an inhuman roar of defiance and pain, but mostly pain most likely, and the second he was flying through the air, Assault now in his place in the crater.

Unfortunately Lung didn't go far, instead crashing into the drug-lab warehouse he'd kicked me into. He didn't stay inside for long though, there was barely enough time for me to catch a breath when he smashed back out of the warehouse and fell to his knees. Catching himself with his clawed hands, he vigorously shook his head as the air ignited around him and his body spasmed, becoming just a bit more Dragon-Like.

I _stepped_ up to his kneeling form in a flash, deftly shifting my grip on my pole hammer I swung it into his side; catching him square in his floating rib. "FOUR!" My mouth called out to no one in particular.

-is she even there?-

Lung didn't so much as fly this time as tumble, though that wasn't to say he didn't go far; my cheap shot managed to ragdoll him at least fifty yards down the street where he must have hit a fire hydrant as a torrent of water was suddenly spouting up from beneath him and falling about his form. Extinguishing his flames.

Suddenly, yet another card out of my Rolodex slotted into a slot in the instant it appeared and a lightning bolt shot down from the sky to strike Lung. With the water around him to conduct the electricity there was no escape, even if he'd been standing. His hulking form spasmed, his barely regenerated eyes popped, the water around him vaporized and falling to his knees he promptly fell face forward onto the street. The water from the broken hydrant began to fall onto the street again.

The air grew heavy, tense, and no one moved for several second before my _SIDEKICK_ charged forth; crossing the distance between us and Lung with long strides of his blue, power armoured legs. Coming to stand over the downed Dragon-Man he spun his Halberd about and the glint of gleaming metal appeared at the base of it for a split second before he jabbed down into Lungs expansive back.

Another tense moment passed in silence as everyone waited for Lung to pop back up again, but when a second became thirty the tension started to drain away. Absently, my pole-hammer's mass shifted back into its somewhat larger and thicker than what could possibly be normal staff form as Assault meandered toward me. He looked from Lung, to me, then back to Lung, then up to the sky.

Curious, I looked up as well to see Dauntless; the other Protectorate Cape resplendent in his gold and white spartan armor and gleaming gold helm. Little clouds of white lightning sparked around his boots as he descended to stand next to Assault.

Raising a glowing white spear in the shape of a Zeus's thunderbolt, he examined it critically, turning the end one way or the other; an air of confusion about him.

Again, Assault looked from me- to Lung, then back to Dauntless. "Holy Spaghetti Monster," I heard him mutter before he turned toward Armsmaster- who, I absently noted, had lost his sidekick designation. And, oddly enough, while the newly created _MULTI-MELEE MASTER_ went into the rolodex my staff stayed just that instead of reverting to a light pole -and cupped his mouth. "EY HALBEARD, CAN WE KEEP HER!"

Suddenly, I felt very self conscious as three pairs of eyes turned on me. Armsmaster looking up from his vigilant guard over Lungs prone form, Assualt turned to look over his shoulder at me with a mad grin and Dauntless turned to look at me; his head cocked questioningly.

"A- Ah," I stuttered, pulling at _SPEED-BLITZ_ as yet _another_ card shot out of my mental rolodex and came to the fore of my selection. Turning my head down ever so slightly, my lips slowly spread into a grin. "Heh-"

I was violently broken out of my reminiscing of last nights activities as my back hit the locker behind me.

Finally paying attention to what was going on around me, I de-selected _JUST IGNORE IT_ and leveled a steady glare at Emma, the pusher. Her mouth moved as she said something and against my better judgement I let a selection slide out of my mental rolodex and I stepped forward, cupped my hand, and backhanded Emma across her poisonous mouth.

The somewhat crowded hallway quieted in an instant as Emma cried out in a combination of shock and pain as she fell on her ass. Touching her cheek, she looked up at me; some emotion in her eyes that I really didn't really care to try and decipher. And, thanks to a quick ACTIVATION of _ZERO FUCKS_ , my face was expressionless, neutral, as I stared down at the girl that had once upon a time been like a sister. Then I turned, pushing through the flunkies surrounding me and continued down the hall toward the computer lab.

Entering the computer filled room I waved to and headed to my usual desk. Booting up the computer I signed in and pulling up the day's assignment I got to work, class hadn't started yet and there were still only a few other students in the classroom but didn't really mind.

In the corner of the computer screen the clock ticked by, more and more students filtering into the room until the bell rang and Mrs. Knott took roll call. Answering the call when my name was called I spent a few more minutes working on autopilot before saving the assignment and turning it into the dropbox.

That done, I cracked my neck and opened up a browser window; clicking on a bookmarked website and signed onto Parahumans-Online.

* * *

Links to the _Underlined and Italicized_ Tropes may be found in my profile.


	3. Chapter 3

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 **Topic: New Cape in Town**

 **In: Boards ► Places ► Amercia ► Brockton Bay ► News ► Cape Discussion**

 **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)

Posted on April 12, 2011:

Ok… so Brockton Bay's got a new player in town :shrug:, nothing too exciting and/or new about that… right? Yeah, no- but god damn, did they come out in a big way.

 **Indominus**

in·dom·in·us

inˈdämənəs/

adjective

to subdue or defeat.

which cannot be mastered

Synonyms:

invincible, unconquerable, unbeatable, unassailable, invulnerable,unshakable, unsinkable, untamable; More

ORIGIN:

Mid 17th century (in the sense 'untamable'): from late Latin indomitabilis, from in- 'not' + Latin domitare 'to tame.'

Indominus, that's the name I was able to get after hitting up whoever I could. From what my peeps were able to tell me it's not 'official' by any stretch of the term but that's pretty much what the shorthand is for referring to the newcomer.

EDIT(0440/APR-12-11)UPDATE: Unconfirmed, but I just got word the name originated from Assault's verbal re-telling of after the fight.

Now, personally, I think the name is pretty apt considering what my contact is telling me and what the news is showing essentially ammounted to a knock-down drag-out match with _LUNG_ down in the the old Port/Industrial District, a general cesspool otherwise known as The Docks by a few of my contacts in the city.

Reports are still coming in,but word is that thanks to them almost a fifth of the standing structures down there have either burned down or collapsed due to structural damage. As of this 4AM there are a few fire crews on alert for any flare ups.

Let me say that again, A FIFTH. (Estimated Visual)

It took a bit to find the data, but here's a bit of back history about cape city USA to put this in perspective; the last time there was that much raw damage done in Brockton Bay by two capes was when Marquis (The Marche) and Allfather (E88) went at it. That was in the late 90's in what is now The Heights, back _then_ it was little more than a low income neighborhood that just sorta died.

Now, previously, the runner up that was when Lung showed up and established himself in the city in the early 2000's. Soon enough he was engaged by the E88 and the Protectorate and managed to drive back both parties. After that everyone settled into a general peace and no one poked the Rage-Dragon too badly.

Welp, our newcomer did poke the Rage-Dragon. They poked him hard.

So, you guys know the drill; discuss, argue, debate and all that jazz. But lets keep it civil allright? No threats, trolling or baseless accusations ya-hear? Otherwise our resident overlord are going to come down on us like the Shadow Stalker thread, and we all know how that one turned out.

Relevant Links:

-INDOMINUS (Mod's have it locked down ATM)

-LUNG

-ARMSMASTER

-DAUNTLESS

-ASSAULT

-AZN BAD BOYZ

-THE DOCKS

-THE MARCHE

-EMPIRE EIGHTY EIGHT

-MUNICIPALITY EXPENSE REPORT (Brockton Bay 1990's)

EDIT(0600/APR-12-11)UPDATE: The PRT ENE statement regarding the fight (HERE) has confirmed the newcomers designation of Indominus, my contact updated me on what was going on down there and apparently it had already somehow leaked to the Media. Say's Administration is headhunting for whoever spoke to the press, say's PR had a more 'Wholesome/Heroic' name but they decided to roll with it.

[QUOTE][MEDIA=youtube]FSEF03msdsdfsdfsdfsdf[/MEDIA][/QUOTE]

 **(Showing Page 1 of 47)**

 **Vertigal** (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)

Replied on April 12, 2011:

First response, cool... Dude, Bag, that is totally not a real word... and holy mother of bleep.

Nope, Nope Nope Nope, im outa town. Does this guy not realize what he just did?

Im asian, with lung gone it's gonna be pretty much open season for the Nazi's. No more status quo, because, ya know, as fucked up as it is to be thankful to pay a tife to a mother fucking dragon at least that dragon won't kill me outright cuz of how my eyes look.

Yep, me thinks its time to get out of dodge for a bit.

So yeah, thanks for that.

 **Baron of Bacon**

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Yeah Vertigal, for your information Indominus actually is a word... but then again Latin is just a pain in the ass so meh.

And yeah, thats kinda fucked up but thinking about it that way I see what your getting at. The balance of power is definitely going to shift and I seriously doubt Oni Lee can hold back the E88 and Merchants all by himself... didn't Lung pick up a Tinker recently though?

Who knows though, hopefully nothing too bad will happen.

 **Ear's to the Ground, Eye's to the Sky** (Veteran Member)

Replied on April 12, 2011: Ok yeah, first things first Indominus has got a serious brute package cuz the dragon fucker was pretty much using them as wrecking ball.

I was set up in a fairly nice place (clean, warm, dry... or at least it was until it got smashed the fuck up) and I saw them when they were… maybe halfway to where the Protectorate intercepted them?

And oh man were the two of them were wailing on each other, the newby was getting either thrown or smashed through the old warehouses and then they'd just pull themselves out of it do the it right back to Lung. Who by the way was throwing fire around the entire time or was covered in it himself.. Yeah, that was what fucked up most of the docks.

The fires that they started when they were beating the crap out of each other. Definitely an alexandria package, either that or one hell of a personal shield, not sure if they could fly (didn't see any) but got-dayum could they take a hit like a champ.

 **Cerulean Sword** Replied on April 12, 2011: Fuck wholesome and PR friendly, its badass is what it is. I mean she took down LUNG! Sure, Halbeard, Dauntless and Assault were there but a buddy of mine said he saw a bit of footage with her tanking most of the shots and just straight up wrecking him with a big ass acme hammer.

 **Zen-Genius**

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Cerulean Sword Her? So the cape is a girl? Proof/Evidence? Pics?

 **Cerulean Sword** Replied on April 12, 2011: Just his word. I trust him though, under NDA and confidentiality stuff though so he said he couldnt say too much until after the official statement and even then…

 **Valkyr** (Wiki Warrior)

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Ok, can you stop spamming the mods about Indominus' profile? Its locked, deal with it. Everything is pretty much unconfirmed right now so just chill.

 **Clockblocker** (Wards ENE)

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Couldnt sleep... hoh boy, it is way to early for this bullshit. I'll try and come back with something later. And it's not fair, another girl that will probably hit me… im sad :Sad:

 **Nondeceptive**

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Indominus... that sounds rather ominous. Doesn't that kinda sound like a villainous name? Maybe a indication that she isn't as wholesome she would appear? And awesome, hopefully we can get the inside scoop. And fuck the _pork_ if we don't.

 **Corelian Born** (Veteran Member) Replied on April 12, 2011: Nondeceptive No, shame on you. Thats very very silly indeed and you knock that off right now... Ok now that thats out of my system HOLY SHIT! I wake up in the middle of the night to firetrucks screaming by and this is... fuuuccckkk. Glad I live downtown at least. Better stock up though, this is probably gonna get very very messy…

The next dozen or so pages continued along a similar vein and reading through them I began to understand what he had meant when he'd said that: ' _Being a Hero sometimes meant you couldn't be._ '

Eventually the trouble makers had started filtering in, starting with the a racist remark about the filth being taken out. Not long after that a brief flame war started between what seemed like a few E88 and ABB member's making veiled and not so veiled threats to each other. And in the former's case they extended the threats to to the people wondering _what next_. On several occasions Oni Lee, Lung's Clone-Teleporting Suicide-Bombing Lieutenant, was mentioned; he had a big red badge that had popped up when I'd clicked on his his profile that stated he was dangerous, that he shouldn't be approached, etc… Yeah, as if the picture of the dark bodysuited, ninja themed cape liberally strapped down with grenades, knives, guns and more grenades wasn't enough of an indicator to that.

I had to consciously check myself though when the beginings of my 'Mad Grin' was reflected back at me from the monitor's screen; as idly, I wondered how his _TELEPORT SPAM_ analogue would fare against _SPEED BLITZ_ and _BULLET TIME_.

Skimming through the rest of the thread; I found the discussion expanding into power speculation, true Hero/Villain alignment, who I would join and more concerns about retaliation from the ABB and/or the other gangs looking to seize territory. One such concern which had been echoed for several pages what Bakuda would do. Not too much was known about her aside from that she Tinker with the specialization of Bombs and that she had held Cornell University hostage, and a good chunk of Boston by extension, with the threat of some super-bomb.

Needless to say people were wondering if she would play that same trick here in the bay in order to free her boss. Staring hard at one speculatory post about what her bombs were possibly capable of, I decided that it _probably_ wouldn't hurt to go out on a patrol tonight.

"-Taylor?"

Tearing my eyes away from the screen, I looked up to Mrs. Knott standing beside me, a concerned look on her face as she proffered a pink hall pass. "Administration called, Principal Blackwell would like to see you in her office."

'So that was how she wanted to play things,' I silently mused and made to stand when Mrs. Knott confirmed my suspicions with her quick addendum of - "They said to bring your things."

With her unknowingly confirming my suspicion, several choices from my mental rolodex were swapped out for others in my selection; while at the same time I raised _NERVES OF STEEL_ , _TALKING YOUR WAY OUT_ and _THE STOIC_ to the top of my selection and ACTIVATED them.

They wouldnt all hold for _too_ long, but they synergized well enough that they would suffice for long enough; even if it became necessary to add others. Although his really was going to be troublesome, but- I let out a slow breath -I suppose I had somewhat brought it on myself for ACTIVATING _ZERO FUCKS_ like I had. Probably should have kept in mind the last time I did so… but no matter.

Accepting the slip, I reassured Mrs. Knott that it was probably nothing. And signing out of the computer I stood, picked up my messenger bag off the floor and stood; my back straight and head high as I left the classroom.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm really not seeing what the problem is here," I responded, exasperbated, as I slowly drummed my fingers on the top of my white helmet.

At the head of the conference table Piggy's eye twitched and the pencil in her hand snapped with a sharp, " _ _CRACK_._ " Breaking her death glare, she looked down and stared at the broken writing instrument before ever so slowly setting the pieces of wood aside and sliding another from within the leather padfolio in front of her. "The problem," she said, her voice frigid, "Assault, is that you went against regulation and divulged information about an on-going investigation to personal without proper security clearance. __That_ _ is the problem."

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in the chair a bit. "Please, all I was doing was talking with some of the troopers and it came up. I'll admit, it was a mistake but in the end what I did was do that girl a solid. If the name hadn't leaked she'd otherwise have been slapped with some other stupid PR safe name."

"That is besides the point, what you did-"

"What I __did__ ," I interjected, "was accidentally help the kid get herself a badass name before she could named by P.H.O. like Chubster was."

For the second after I cut her off I thought Piggy was going to explode on me. But once I finished she was silent; the eraser of her pencil tapping against the conference tables glossy surface.

"It was against regs," I continued, "I'll give you that and I'll take my licks, but think about it this way. The girl, you want her in the Wards and I think I'll go out on a limb and say that upper management wants her as well. Badly too I imagine," I added, "if she's really a Trump like eggheads think- am I right?"

The room was silent but and Piggot tapped the end of her pencil several more times before a scowl crossed her face, "Yes."

"Well... then let me put things this way. That girl, she's got an independent streak a mile long and won't take well to being under someone else- I saw a few like her back when I was operating on my own," as a villain, went unsaid. But, unlike the others in the room who had always been 'Heroes' it gave me a certain perspective. "I can practically __guarantee_ _ you that she's not going to just show up at the front desk to join the wards, she's got power enough to hold her own and she'll value her independance. So we take the soft approach, and thanks to what I did we already have a potential inroad.

Pausing, I gently rapped my knuckles on my helmet as I looked the Director in the eye. "And besides, she and her power seemed to work well enough with us last night so I'd put money down on her being friendly to us in the future. Giving her a stupid name picked by PR wouldn't have won us any favors... and what was it they picked out anyway?"

Absently, the Director flipped up half a page in her folder; her mouth turning down momentarily. "Torrentis, they've been on an ancient language slant lately."

"A derivative of torrens, Latin," I snorted, "and three quarters of the synonyms for it have to do with fire or heat. Sure, I could maybe believe the __rushing_ _ or __torrential_ _ translation of it from when she had that mover power of hers active, but c'mon."

" _ _How__ do you even know what that means," Miss Militia interjected from the other side of the table. "And for that matter how did you even come up with something like Indominus is something I'd like to know."

Heads turned to me from around the table and I leaned back again. "Ah… well it pretty much it came from a doodle of the Indomitable Snowman I was working on. While I was working on that I thought of the problems Armsy was having with getting a solid picture of her which led me to Bigfoot and how there's only the one blurry clip." I waved my hand absently, "Combined with the Latin dictionary Puppy's been making me read it just came to me." The conference room was silent and a cricket chirping almost wouldn't have been out of place. Ah, the gloriousness of brain-bendingly twisted logic.

"I looked it up when I heard it being thrown around; it's really rather neutral and describes the way she fights pretty well I thought." The eyes of the table turned to Dauntless; the former cop absently running a polishing cloth over his spartan helm, heedless of the eyes looking his way.

"Yes well, thank you for that enlightening explanation, thank you." The Director cut in, and making a mark in her folder she set the pencil down. "What's done is done I suppose and your reasoning does have merit," she blinked and shook her head, "god that's something I thought I'd never say."

I couldn't hold my laugh in at that but Puppy's vindictive elbow to my ribs cut it off as cleanly as the executioner's guillotine.

"Onto the final item then, Armsmaster, have you had any success with recovering any workable footage of the fight?"

Shying away from Puppy and her sharp elbows, I looked down to the other end of the table where Halbeard sat in his armor sans helmet; his eyes narrowed and lips pinched up in consternation. "No, I have not. Dragon has been kind enough to try and assist me in my efforts but whatever stranger effect… the girl- Indominus, he corrected- was giving off distorted her form in every frame she was in." Pausing, he cocked his head slightly and the edges of his beard twitched momentarily. "In retrospect, it makes a certain amount of sense that she would be so brazen as to simply go out in a pair of sunglasses and casual clothes."

Looking back to Piggy it was clear enough that that was certainly __not_ _ what she'd wanted to hear. Her face had a special way of pinching up when she heard something bad. Honestly, it always seemed to me like someone trying way too hard to pinch of a high fiber loaf.

"And what about a sketch artist? Could the effect be limited to just be digital spoofing? You were able to describe her in general terms well enough in your initial report."

"I am afraid I had only marginally better success on that front as well. I attempted to recall the exact details of her face for a sketch artist program Dragon is working on for the police, however; the variance between each attempt was above a forty percent margin of error. We attempted facial recognition of the local high school rosters anyway but it was unsuccessful and returned no definitive matches."

"That is unfortunate," Piggy said, taking a moment to write a few lines in the folder. "Is there anything else then... yes, Armsmaster?"

"There is one thing," he said as his helmet unfolded around his head and his gauntleted hand flexed ever so slightly in a way I recognized as him turning on his teleprompter, bastard, "while analysing the after action data from my armor's systems I was able to emphatically confirm that I was exhibiting a tangible increase in my strength, dexterity and agility during the time from when I engaged Lung. Approximately twenty percent beyond my baseline." He paused to let that sink in before continuing.

"In addition, while performing my fitness routine I was able to calculate a five percent increase in my physical capabilities across the board. While this is a far lower… boost, than what I extrapolated from my suits data it is still a significant increase in performance." His lips turned down in a slight frown, "As of yet I am uncertain whether it will remain or fade like the increased power of Dauntless' Arclance has- but I believe I will know for certain within several hours. However, in the event that the boost to my physical capabilities remains I would propose regular power and physical evaluations for all Wards and Protectorate members following an encounter with Indominus. For the immediate future at least or until we know more."

"...I see, send me your findings and your suggestion will be taken into consideration. Dismissed."

Standing, I waited with Puppy as everyone filtered out of the room then we left together; going at our own meandering pace.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Glancing over I caught Puppy's inquisitive eye, I lifted a shoulder before dropping it dispassionately. "Didn't notice anything. I mean, who aside from __Halbeard_ _ even would? Five percent? Really?" Stopping in the middle of the nearly empty hallway I slumped dramatically, "And then we're all gonna have to go through testing whenever we see Girly… what a pain."

Stopping beside me Puppy patted me on the head, "There there, i'm sure it won't be that bad."

"Yeah? Well you're not the one that's most likely going be the point of contact for Indominus."

"Then you shouldn't have come up with your convoluted plan for her then." She quietly admonished.

Grinning, I snaked an arm around her middle and pulling her close I was rewarded with a surprised squeak. "Hur, Kong knew he pick good woman. Jane smart." And before she could escape I scooped her up in my arms and threw her over my shoulder. "Oof, Jane smart but she weigh much. Good thing Kong stronk."

Jane squaked indignantly and I fastidiously ignored her fists hammering against my back as I carried her away to my cave, helmet held loosely in my free hand. She was right though, it was my fault. But, no pain before gain and all that jazz. And it would certainly be that, a pain, having to job the testing Armsy proposed after publicly meeting up with the kid each time; but oh well.

Turning my thoughts to brunch I continued down the hall.


	5. Chapter 5

Turning onto the hall that had majority of the schools administration offices, my pace slowed to a crawl as standing outside the Principal and Vice-Principals offices was a Police Officer. And not the school cop that couldn't be trusted with a gun either, a patrolman.

And wasn't that interesting. Coming to a stop in front of the officer, I smiled and nodded politely before opening the door and heading into the snake pit.

Entering the waiting room, the beleaguered receptionist looked up from a magazine. Seeing me, she quickly picked up the handset to her desk phone and quietly speaking into the receiver while making snap glances up at me. She and I had a bit of history, it was her that I had initially handed in my formal complaints to, right up until I accidentally had left my bag in the office and came back to find her putting something through the shredder behind her desk; the deer in the headlights look she'd given me had told me enough.

Not bothering caring for her to finish talking to Blackwell I turned on my heel and walked straight toward the door to the Principal's office; ignoring the shout to stop from behind me.

Entering, I caught a good eyeful of the Emma- with an ice pack to held to her cheek, Alan- her father and Divorce Lawyer, and Principal Blackwell- the enabler... with dad no where in sight. Well they certainly decided to stack the jury all right and I almost turned right back around right then. But… it would probably be a good idea to stay and find out just what kind of game they were going to try and play.

Closing the door behind me, I stepped to the side and sat myself down in one of the chairs that were up against the wall that the door was connected to.

Slowly, I looked from Emma, to Alan, to Blackwell; meeting each of their gazes in turn until I got back to Emma. I smiled at her and she jerked back a bit, flinching. It was probably my eyes, I'd been told they got a little vacant looking when I ACTIVATED _THE STOIC_ _._ Soulless, had been the word used if I remembered correctly.

A sharp clack of the phone hitting its receiver broke the tension in room. " , You will wait to be called in, now get out and wait in the outer room."

Ah, Blackwell; I turned to look at the woman. "Has my father been contacted for whatever reason I have been called here for?"

Seemingly brought up short she shook her head, "Yes, however he was unable to be reached. Now please, go and wait to be called in."

Raising his hand in what he probably thought was an attempt to forestall me leaving the room, shook his head. "Its ok, I've heard enough. Well Taylor, would you like to explain what happened between Emma and you this morning while we wait for your father to arrive? Or would you rather wait."

I feigned confusion. "Did something happen? All I know is that I was in class and then I'm being called up here."

"Don't play coy Miss Hebert, several of the girls that helped Miss Barnes to the nurse's office told me it was you that struck her while she and them were talking."

"I see, and do you have any _actual_ evidence that I have done anything wrong or is this just hearsay from her friends? I mean, I suppose there is that fancy security camera system but then again that actually doesn't work. Does it."

Brought up short, Blackwell attempted to come back back beat her to the punch. "Are you saying my daughter and her friends are lying Taylor?" He sighed, "Emma has said you and her haven't been getting along but there's no reason to lie. Things will turn out for the best if you just tell the truth."

Oh, how rich that was; the truth, coming from a lawyer. "The _truth_ you say?" And~ it was in that moment that I was speaking that I realized I was still _somewhat_ under the effects of _ZERO FUCKS_ ; really, I should have known ACTIVATING that again would come back to bite me in the ass. "Well how about this _truth_. Your daughter, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements have been engaging in a bullying campaign against me for over a year. They have destroyed my homework, my textbooks, my clothes, my mother's flute and so, so many other things."

I cocked my head to the side, "Well, , how's that for a _truth_."

A look of uncertainty crossed his before he looked down to Emma, who took the ice pack away from her face at just the right time and exposing a darkening bruise along her cheek. What a perfect little actress, playing the part of the wounded damsel with the father that would protect her from harm. Typical.

"Taylor, our families have been close for a long time but I will not have you slandering my daughter. I will press charges if you lie about something like that again and do not confess what you did. Do you understand me?"

Ignoring him I glanced over and up at the wall across from Blackwell's desk, looking up at the clock mounted there. Turning back I looked her in the eyes. "I'm curious, if there _was_ a trial and, say, the school's phone records were subpoenaed… would they _really_ show that contact was attempted with my father?"

She was silent and gave no reaction besides the thinning of her lips. "That's what I thought." I stood and looked down to and Emma. "I would really advise against bringing charges against me for… whatever, this is." I said, waving my hand blithely. "Because otherwise I'm afraid your career and family won't be able to escape unaffected. Bad publicity and public opinion being turned against you and all that."

Emma's father was still and silent, just staring at me for a long moment before shaking his head. "Emma was right, you have changed. You think threatening me and my family will change the fact that you assaulted my daughter?"

I smiled, "I'm not threatening you at all, those are your words... No, I just thought I should inform you," breaking eye contact I nodded to Blackwell," and you as well, that I kept a _very_ detailed account of what your daughter and her friends did to me. In addition to copies of all formal complaints I made to the staff here," that last bit I directed at Blackwell.

"If it... became necessary, I would have no reason not to release those documents to the Media. As for changing... " I cocked my head and slowly turned to stare Emma in the eyes until she broke eye contact, "You could thank your daughter for that. The time I spent in the hospital was quite informative."

Pausing with my hand on the doorknob I looked back at the main person I'd come to hold responsible. "And really Mrs. Blackwell, we wouldn't be having any of these problems if you weren't so incompetent and hadn't shredded my transfer application last year."

Pulling open the door with a bit more force than necessary, I exited the office and was soon back in the hallway and making the decision to bail when I saw the police officer and stopped. DE-ACTIVATING _THE STOIC_ , I let some of my anxiousness come to the surface.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

"Yes miss?"

"Um, I was just wondering wondering if you had a card I could have. Just encase I needed to talk to someone about reporting something."

Brows furrowing in concern he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and extracted a business card. "Here you are Miss, don't hesitate to call and if there is _ever_ anything you need to report just call the first number to contact the precinct."

"Thank you."

"It's no problem at all Miss, you take care of yourself now and get back to your class."

Nodding, I slipped the card into my messenger bag and continued down the hall; ACTIVATING _THE NON DESCRIPT_ while DEACTIVATING _TALKING YOUR WAY OUT_ and _THE STOIC_ and shuffling them back into my selection.

I left _NERVES OF STEEL_ up though, it being active helped me walk out through the schools front doors and kept me from having a minor- but probably not so minor -freak out over what I'd done. Sometimes… sometimes I just hated my powers.

+X+X+X+X+

A good bit later I found myself at the library, sitting down at one of the public computers and logging onto P.H.O. with an anonymous Temp account. Searching for Bagrat's thread, I clicked on it and was about to scroll down to the link to leading to my Cape Profile so I could register it when I saw that there were thirty five more pages of comments.

Curious, I went to the page I had been on last and began skimming through multiple pages and checking the time stamps until I found the source of the surge in posts; a youtube video posted by Über. Oh dear.

 **Über** (Verified Cape)

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Ok guys and gals, a bit late getting this up but me and L337 have been pretty busy since last night, getting stuff packed away and what not. Boy, did we have to hustle.

The excitement for us started up when we got an alert that there was some shit going down near one of our depot's. So, we send out one of our camera drones, and man did we get more than we bargained for. Personally, my money had been down on Skidmark and Squealer having some _fun_ with one of her monstrosities. But no, _instead_ what we find is someone going at it with Lung. Needless to say we sent out more cameras to document that glorious train wreck while we went to get our shit out of the path of destruction. Really didn't turn out how we expected it to. Just got done editing it so here ya go. Note: The figure overlay is in part to preserve Indominus's ID since they seem to not have their costume completely figured out, in addition to that their figure was actively being distorted by what appears to be a Stranger effect; whether it is Power or Tech based was unable to be determined. Enjoy.

[MEDIA=youtube]FSEF03msdsdfsdfsdfsdf[/MEDIA]

Clicking the video, I could only watch in horror as a good portion of my fight with Lung had been tastefully cut together from multiple viewing angles. It captured the destruction of the docks very well indeed. The only truly comforting part of it being that I now knew for certain that _THE NON DESCRIPT_ worked on Tinker-Tech cameras. Although the articulate Male-Silhouette that was overlaid on top of me was bit amusing as well as insulting.

Then came the Memes. Me being smashed through a warehouse, me smashing Lung through a warehouse, me being pummeled, Lung being pummeled, me designating Armsmaster as _SIDEKICK,_ me hitting Lung with a light pole, me cheap-shotting Lung in the crotch with my hammer; that one in particular already had almost a hundred likes. They just went on and on and I just _knew_ my face would have been flushed crimson if I hadn't hastily ACTIVATED _THE STOIC_ and went back to the OP to click on the Indominus profile link.

It was blank, which was to be expected, with a big Lock superimposed over the rest of the profile. For some reason I doubted that it would stay like that long.

Clicking on the Lock a text window popped up and I typed in that I would like to register as Indominus. Although, for some reason the name nagged at me and a quick check of my mental rolodex and selection told me that it was probably because _ZERO FUCKS_ was now mostly faded…I mean, I had thrown the name out there during brainstorming but I hadn't really _meant it_. I thought back to the thread though and all those memes... yeah, like I'd have any other choice _now_. I was so going to bounce him off the street next time I saw him.

I sent off the message and less than a minute later a PM alert popped up in the window. I clicked on it.

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 **Private message from Tin_Mother:**

 **Tin_Mother *New Message*:**

Temp: 234290-38

Require specifics only you would know to confirm ID.

Be warned though that there have already been several attempts to claim the account by others, they are now enjoying vacations from the site.

 **Temp: 234290-38 *New Message*:**

Well I used hydrochloric acid that I got from what Im pretty sure was a merchant meth lab in the warehouse I got thrown into. That was right around when Armsmaster showed up. That was cut from/wasn't in the video Uber put out.

 **Tin_Mother *New Message*:**

Confirming… Please be patient for several minutes… Confirming...

 **Tin_Mother *New Message*:**

Confirmed. Your Account name is Indominus and your temporary password is [ 2$2829*12SP/MT23 ]

Please be sure to read the ULA and welcome to the forums.

Memorizing the password, I refreshed the page and signed in. The first thing I noticed though was that I had PMs; a fair number of them actually. Fortunately, thanks P.H.O's inbox system, they were sorted into messages from capes and non-capes.

One, was from the Protectorate and P.R.T.; requesting I come in for a debriefing as well as to fill out some forms. And there were others, congratulating me on surviving against Lung and the like. But there was one that stood out:

 **Tattletale** (Verified Cape)

Replied on April 12, 2011:

Owe you a major solid for last night, if not for you me and my friends would be a pretty crispy.

Would like to pay you back.

Send a message.

I could do little more than raise an eyebrow as I thought about what that could mean, my fingers already tapping at the keyboard.


	6. Chapter 6

"So I got a call from the school today."

"Really?" I raised a brow and glanced across the table to dad as he cut his steak. "What time?" I tossed back a forkful of rice and meat.

"Around tenish maybe… _why_?"

I didn't answer right away. In part, because I was still chewing; but also because I didn't really _want_ to. Apparently though that was telling enough.

" _Taylor_ ," he said slowly, cautiously, "what did you do."

Swallowing, I stabbed my knife into my steak, "Besides ditching… well, I accidentally ACTIVATED _ZERO FUCKS_ today and ended up backhanding Emma when she tried her usual shit and around halfway through first period I got called up. was there with Emma."

I snorted, "Blackwell _said_ , she was unable to get a hold of you. But I'd sooner throw her than trust her, I guess I was right."

There was a clink of silverware being set on ceramic as dad sighed. "Taylor-"

"I _know_!" I snapped, before taking a deep breath and forcing myself to settle back down, "I know, you don't have to tell me… well, on the upside at least I told that his daughter isn't the rosy little peach he thinks she is and called out Blackwell on being incompetent."

One corner of my mouth turned up in a smirk, "I don't think he was expecting that when he showed up."

At that dad let out a low, almost pained groan.

"Taylor, you can't do things like that. People have brain-mouth filters for a reason, your powers…"

"They remove the filters, yeah." Looking up, I met dad's eye, the worry visible on his face and in the bags under his eyes. It had just been so _easy_ to tell him I had powers when I'd first ACTIVATED _ZERO FUCKS_ , _too easy_. It had been _too easy_ to keep going and tell him about everything that had happened since mom had died. What I thought of him, what I had considered doing, what I had gone through at school… really the only thing that had made me stop was when I'd noticed _BREAK THEM BY TALKING_ appear in my mental rolodex.

"I kinda just walked out after telling them about my journal," shrugging, I went back to cutting my steak. "I guess I'll see what happens when I go back in tomorrow."

He didn't look happy, not one bit considering he had know Emma's father Alen since they'd been in school themselves. But he nodded anyway, and picking up his fork he poked at his own steak. "Well anyway, Blackwell wanted a meeting. I suppose now I know what the topic of discussion is going to be."

"If she wants me apologize for what I said then she can hold her breath. I'd rather drop out if it came to that."

"Ah'm ure i' wone ome' oo at'," he said through a mouthful of food before audibly swallowing. "By the way, I saw the video, the one Uber and Leet put up." He smiled and just a bit of it reached his eyes, most of it though was… pride? "My little girl, slaying monsters and fighting alongside heroes like Armsmaster…" His smile turned down in a grimace, "Indominus though…"

"It wasn't exactly my first choice."

"Yeah, I suppose. It does have a rather Villainy ring to it. Although, I do have to agree with some of the others on there, it really does fit." He smiled a wistful smile, "Untamable, your mother would have approved."

"Really?" I asked. I mean, I knew she had done some activism and had even gotten in trouble with the police over it and that she'd had something of a temper. But she would have approved? That was news.

"Yeah…," Dad sighed wistfully, " and come to think of it, neither of us really told you about her college years did we?"

+X+X+X+X+

At the edge of the one of the nicer and lesser known abandoned buildings in the city I sat; looking out at the lights that illuminated it and tried to keep the darkness from closing in. It was really a nice view, being more than a dozen stories above street level made it look good. Although the same could probably be said about most cityscapes; and unfortunately, with a keen eye, the view also showed just how much of the city was in bad shape.

At one point, im sure the building had been nice and in many places it still was; the simple art deco design had withstood not being tended to for years. But it was old, and just like the city below it was dying. Slowly but surely, the curse of apathy and complacency gradually took its tole. The protesting shriek of the roof access door opening up behind me was just another testament to that fact.

The roof's gravel crunched and ground together as booted feet walked over it and there owners came to stand over me.

"You're twenty minutes late."

"And you chose the top of a tall ass building to meet on top of, give me break."

Raising an eyebrow, I looked over to the white armored Hero who'd been my off-and-on secret mentor the past few months as he sat down next to me on the roofs edge; somewhat surprised. I knew _I_ wouldn't be hurt if I fell, but I wasnt too sure about him; probably not, but then of course I didn't doubt that was just that carefree.

He jerked his chin while gesturing to my lap, "So what're you reading this time?"

Looking down to the tattered paperback held loosely in my hands, I slipped in a piece of scrap paper to keep my place and held it up so he could see the cover.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray," he muttered and plucked the book out of my hand. I looked out onto the city again as he muttered to himself; reading the back covers synopsys if a few of the words I heard him mutter were any indication. "Well damn. Thats... bleak."

He handed the book back to me and I stuffed it in one of the side pockets in the military style cargo pants I'd chosen to wear tonight.

"Since I was meeting you up here I thought the symbolism was rather appropriate."

I continued to look out on the city below.

"Ok now _that_ is bleak, so what's up?"

"I registered my PHO account for Indominus today and- oh yeah," I turned to look at Assault and narrowed my eyes, "I thought I said I liked that name only compared to _most_ of the others we were brainstorming. I didn't actually mean that as in I wanted to actually _use_ it."

He shrugged and reached beneath his armored vest to pull out a stick of gum; dropping the wrapper and letting it flutter away as he popped the stick into his mouth. "Well it was a spur of the moment thing, there were a lot of names being thrown around the office so I went with the one that sounded the coolest."

For a moment, I considered punching him just out of principle but quickly dismissed the idea.

"Right, well anyway, I had a bunch of PMs in my inbox but one of them stood out to me." Reaching into one of my pants pockets I pulled out a thin sheaf of folded papers- printouts of the conversation -and handed them over to him. "It was from a small time villain, runs with a new group going by the Undersiders. There wasn't much available on them as a group, small time smash and grab stuff mostly, but from what she said it was pretty much there fault I ended up getting into it with Lung last night."

He shuffled through the papers in silence and I was startled when he let out a sudden laugh. "Oh man, I don't think I can tell you how much of trouble these guys have been giving Halbeard. And here they're asking for a meet up, I swear, half the time he's been out on patrol for the last few months its this bunch he's looking for."

Handing me the papers I stuffed them back in their pocket. "So, you're going to meet up with them because… why?"

My lips lips turning up in my Mad Girl Grin[™], I looked at Assault from the corner of my eyes. "After stewing on it for most of the day I decided I was feeling a just little vindictive about me dealing with their mess."

"...Ah," he sounded out in understanding, "so why did you call me then? You can handle bunch of C and B listers just fine on your own."

"Well, I wanted to know how I was being received by the Protectorate and P.R.T. and…" I trailed off, waffling on whether to tell him or not.

"And?" He prodded questioningly.

I looked down at the street below, "And because I ACTIVATED _ZERO FUCKS_ today in school- its effects _have_ receded though," I reassured him. "I wouldn't have even left home otherwise… but I also wanted a bit of back up just in case. _And_ especially considering that meeting up with a team of Super Villains whose full powers are still pretty much unknown by lonesome would have just been stupid."

Stopping to catch my breath, I watched from the corner of my eye I watched as Assault let out a heavy sigh and slumped a little. He'd told me why he wanted to help me, but I probably never would have really understood _why why_ if I realized how some of my selections affected me. Selections like _ZERO FUCKS_ _,_ which had let me drive my own father to tears without even noticing.

"Kid, you ACTIVATED that in _school_? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't _thinking_." I admitted, "But like I said, it's effects are completely faded as far as I can tell and I've been cycling through my selection to help the process along. I just wanted someone there that can check me if need be."

"Hmm. And you're _sure_ you're not being affected by it anymore?"

"Yeah, but like I said- better safe than sorry. Also, I figured we could do a patrol since i've made my debut and what better way for a first patrol than to apprehend some criminals."

He was quiet for a while more and I waited until I prodded him with my elbow. "Well?" I asked,

"...Yeah, I'll go with you," he said somewhat hesitantly but then he smirked. "Hell, I'd do it for no other reason than to stick it to Halbeard by bringing one of those punks in- _oh_ and thanks by the way for making him your _SIDEKICK_ last night. Now he wants everyone who encounters you to go through physical and power testing whenever they encounter you."

He tsked and shook his head. "He's all hung up over some stupid five percent stat increase…" Shaking his head he stood and took a few steps away from the roofs edge, "Enough of that business though, Puppy's waiting downstairs and she wants to meet you... By the way, when are you supposed to meet them again?"

"Eight." I answered, and getting off the roofs edge I walked over to the gutted shell of the industrial AC unit I'd learned my almost unwieldy staff against. It was a bit frustrating, but I hadn't been able to get it to take on a more normal shape _despite_ spending a good portion of the afternoon experimenting with it down at the ship graveyard.

 _Having_ _MULTI-MELEE MASTER_ _ACTIVATED had_ helped me quickly learn how to properly wield it and change it into different forms. Except what that practice _hadn't_ done, was give me any indication as to how to make take on a more normal form.

Cracking his neck, he looked out over the city again; though this time he was looking toward the north with an analytical eye. "We'll probably have to hustle then...and she said to meet down by the Northern Ferry Station right?"

"Yeah."

"Hm, right between the Docks and the Boardwalk, plenty of escape routes if necessary, civilians close by to keep a certain newly debuted cape from getting too rough… its definitely a good spot for meeting someone that helped wreck a good portion of the city." He grinned proudly and jabbed a thumb at his chest, "They just didn't take into account my awesomeness." He looked me up and down. "You ready then? I know girls take a while so I just want to make sure."

My lip turning up in disgust I brushed some dust off the back of my pants. "Yeah, Im ready. And I'll be sure to tell Battery what you just said."

"Huh!-"

And with that I jumped backwards; the relatively small amount of force I used being enough to carry me past the roofs edge and out into the open air. I was barely able to laugh at Assaults open mouthed look of dismay before I was in freefall and accelerating toward the street below.


	7. Chapter 7

Battery ended up being a rather pleasant person to talk with, even if our initial hadn't been what you would call normal. But that had been my bad really for not _quite_ considering how startled a cape could be by someone suddenly landing next to them after falling from the sky… not really the most subtle thing to do.

But, after the awkward pleasantries were through with, we'd gotten along rather well; and I had just gotten to telling her about what Assault had said about women getting ready when the man in question jogged out of the abandoned office building.

The resulting- and almost alarmingly casual -assault and battery upon his person really made me wonder whether if the rumors that they were married were just that.

 _Now_ we were heading toward the docks at a somewhat sedate but steady pace via roof hopping; Battery and I kept fairly close together, talking as we went along. Assault however... he was maintaining a constant buffer of some twenty meters between us in order to stay out of what he had called Batterys' 'Sphere of Aggression.' Wimp.

On the next roof ahead I saw Assault walk to a stop, his hand coming up to press against the side of his helmet.

Slowing, I hurtled the distance to his roof and stopped well enough away from him but close enough that I could still hear him.

"-Yeah, The Undersiders… just send it to my phone… no, we encountered her while on patrol and she asked for backup just in case… jebus- just send it will you, it's not as if there's much in there anyway… then edit out the classified bits… right… sure, I don't think that will be a problem. She's been pretty amicable if anything… yeah, I'll see you later."

Taking his hand away from his helmet he dug his hand beneath his vest; and looking back to Battery and I he pulled his large touchscreen phone out, fiddled with it for a minute until it beeped and tossed it to me. Catching it with my free hand, I flipped it around so could see the screen was filled was open to a document. Swiping through it I saw that it was indeed a file on the Undersiders. Albeit, a condensed and rather redacted version.

Skimming through it I found that much of the information was what was already available on PHO. But some bits, like a number of notations and comments by Armsmaster and several others that had encountered the group, were a bit more informative.

Some of them though… I scowled as I re-read an entry.

"Something up?"

Looking to Battery I opened my mouth, stopped, then shook my head. "Just something I need to think about."

Tossing the phone back to Assault I picked my staff under my arm and brought _SPEED BLITZ_ to the top of my selection. "We should be pretty close now so I'm going to get into position."

"Right," Assault said as he stuffed his phone back beneath his chest armor. "One thing before you go though," he nodded to Battery.

A minute later I _stepped_ into the weed riddled parking lot of the old northern ferry station. It had been some time since I'd been here with dad but… honestly, looking at it now I could see why the Mayor would be uncomfortable about a non-certain thing like restoring the North and South ferry terminals- and not to mention the ferry itself -back to operating condition.

Sighing, I cracked my neck; and letting _SPEED BLITZ_ recede back into my current selection I swung my ridiculously unwieldy staff onto my shoulders.

Then I settled in to wait, and think.

+X+X+X+X+

Scanning across the weed infested area that was the parking lot of the old ferry station, I quickly zeroed in on the person that had been my- and the Boss's -main subject of interest over the past day. Indominus was... taller than I had expected but at the same time rather... lanky, her arms and legs likely having grown faster than the rest of her. I didn't even need my power to tell me she'd probably be gorgeous once grew out of the ugly duckling stage and her body filled out a bit.

She was also looking rather... ragtag, and hadn't seemed to have figured out a standard cape outfit. Instead she was just wearing cargo pants, boots, and a short sleeve shirt with a pair of aviator sunglasses as her only form of facial concealment. It wasn't much, but then again I wasn't exactly one to talk and the glasses _did_ do a fairly good job of concealing the upper half of her face.

But then again her face wasn't what one would have normally focused on; not when she had her arms slung lazily over that ridiculous staff of hers as it rested across her shoulders and neck. That thing was a few hundred pounds of steel, _easily_... and she had been swinging it around like it had been a _toy_ in Uber's video. Definitely a high level Brute aspect.

Putting on my best smile I waved to the cape as Brutus plodded toward her; the sedan sized rottweiler came to a stop only when Rachel whistled behind me. Shifting, I slung my leg over to one side of the beast; using a bone spur as a hand hold and hopped down. The various sounds of people moving around and the crunching of old asphalt from behind me told me the others had done the same.

Her shades may have worked well enough. Against me though that wouldn't be _nearly_ enough. It wasn't exactly kosher, but then again putting a gun to someones head and forcing them to work for you wasn't either.

Activating my power I _looked-_ and immediately disguised my flinching away by shrugging my backpack off my shoulder so I could get the old Alexandria lunchbox out of it. Still somewhat jarred, I turned off my power and let the sharp ice pick of pain that had been shoved through my eye and into the back of my brain start subsiding.

God damn stranger effect indeed. Tugging open the pack, I pulled out the lunch box and tossed the backpack back to Rachel.

Cautiously, I turned back to the girl and spied her from the corner of my eye as I turned. No girl shaped static blur this time- good. I began my approach and stopped some twenty feet away when she finally shifted, turning to look at me while at the same time swinging her staff off her shoulders. The black colored length shifted, changed shape and halfway through the swing it had taken on a shape akin to the modern tanto style combat knives Coil issued his mercs.

Akin, however; was really only the best descriptor. Because, while the shape of the blade was the same, the thing was as tall and wide as the girl wielding it was; with the handle protruding out of its pommel adding another four feet and was topped off with a large ring a foot in diameter.

As easily as a hot knife cutting through butter Indominus stabbed the blade into the asphalt; the first foot and a half, right angled section of blade disappearing without a sound. I stopped, suddenly confident that I was close enough for me and her to talk; and from behind me I heard a muffled a muttered curse. Alec, of course.

Then there was muffled smack and _another_ curse, Brian _punching_ Alec.

Smirking, I watched as the girl's head shifted a bit and her lips twitched upward. Well, at least the foppish idiot had probably helped break the ice. Raising the Lunchbox up I caught the girls attention again; and bringing it back down I swung it back and tossed it under hand to her.

Arcing through the air, it spun a once before the girls hands slapped down on its sides with a quiet crinkle as the warped metal shifted. Opening it, she looked inside and it was at that time I looked toward the ferry terminal on my right and activated my power; taking in all there was to know about the building in just a few seconds.

I understood how it had slowly started losing business with the loss of shipping traffic going through the port. How it had began making fewer trips until it had finally suffered its death kneel with the scuttling of the vessels that made up the ship graveyard.

Carefully, I inched my gaze back to the girl; constantly shoving aside the useless information I got along the way until I saw the girl shaped, static blur that was my quarry at the edge of my vision. I held there, leery of going further as my power began to fight through the interference she was giving off as it drove pin-pricks of pain into my brain.

Oh, how I was going to enjoy passing out once we got back to the temporary safe house the Boss had directed us to; after, of course, the _original_ had burned down in the fires that had consumed a large portion of the docks.

The migraine would certainly- probably -be worth it though because it was _working_.

 _'The clothes had been bought used. The hems of the cargo pants fraying- just enough that that they had only been used a few times, military surplus. -four such stores in the city, a consequence of declining-'_

I killed the line of thought and dug deeper, my eyes inching more and more to the left as focused on what I _needed_ to know.

 _'Her stance was steady; loose, but she was coiled and ready to move. She was sure of herself- but it wasn't her, it was her power- a Grabbag like Circus… no, Trump. Brute, Mover, Stranger, and- going by the Staff becoming a sword -Striker or Shaker. A specific power focused on... weapons? With… a Thinker aspect to utilize it… no that wasn't it-'_

Biting down hard enough that I thought I'd crack a tooth, I cut off my power as another ice pick of pain played lobotomizer 3000 on my brain. Oh to hell with it, reaching down to my belt I snapped open a compartment on my belt and slid out a foil package of pills; snapping a few of them out of the wrapper I threw them back. The instructions _said_ to take them with water, but that wasn't exactly an option right now; and honestly, couldn't have cared otherwise at this point.

There was a tinny clink of metal on rock and I looked back down to the girl to see her set the lunchbox down on the cracked ground.

 _'She wants to keep her hands free.'_

I couldn't stop the flinch of pain that time as my power activated for a second. But, even with the sign of weakness that it was that little bit of information was worth it; despite, the somewhat ominous indication it gave that she was expecting a fight.

"I appreciate the gesture," she said casually, conversationally even, while at the same time shifting her weight to her right foot.

"There could be more where that came from," I tried, already knowing the offer would be rejected as the words sent little pinpricks through my brain. "A lot more actually."

The girl smiled. It was a slightly too wide thing that showed just a _few_ too many teeth. "I appreciate the offer but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. You guy's _are_ villains after all."

"Completely understandable. However; we really don't-"

"Do you think you can answer a question for me?" She interrupted, "I'll admit, it's been bothering me the last little bit and I'm curious about what your answer will be."

Doing my best to ignore the little dancing lights that had appeared in front of my eyes I smiled back. "Shoot."

"Right… So, you said on P.H.O. that you were on your way to fight Lung before I engaged him-" I nodded "-then why didn't you step in to help when I _was_ fighting him. I mean, you obviously thought you could take him didn't you?"

Furrowing my brow in confusion I stared hard at the girl- no, _Indominus_. It _almost_ sounded as if she was asking a rhetorical question but… wasn't?

The lights shimmering in my vision formed into something that almost looked like a middle finger. But, despite that I was _very_ tempted to turn on my power; even if for just for a second to see what she was going on about. I was about to answer her when Alec spoke up and answered for me.

"Are you kidding?" The son of Heartbreaker called from behind me, safe with the dogs... and Brian. "Fucking Mutant Bowser would have just gone stomp-stomp smash-smash and that would have been it. I kinda thought it was a stupid idea really but- _OW_!"

Not _quite_ what I would have said, the opposite really, but the girl across from me smiled and noded all the same; as if that had been an answer she had been expecting. "I see, then why would you have gone to fight him in the first place? From what your teammate _just_ admitted you very well would have been killed if I hadn't stepped in because of a translation error." Cracking her neck, Indominus rolled her shoulders. "Did you _want_ to die or something?"

"No," I answered before Alec could have gotten a chance to get a word in, even if doing so spawned new lights into my vision. "But going to fight him was the better than letting him come to us. It would have made him start on the wrong foot. We would have had the element of surprise."

Indominus was quiet for a good minute until she nodded slowly, a nod of understanding if any I'd seen. "I see, so you wanted to go down swinging if you were going to go down at all."

I twitched my shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "Sure, you can go with that if you want. By taking the initiative though we were able to take down Oni Lee before he could ambush us. So that would have helped to make things lean a little more in our favor in the event of a fight."

Nodding again, Indominus was quiet for a long moment more until she let out a long, tired sigh. "Now that… that right there is the problem."

My power was practically _screaming_ at me to use it, but I ignored the urge; the lights in my vision were starting to look like an aurora at that point and I would certainly would have passed out the instant I did so.

"You shouldn't _have_ to have gone out to face Lung on a suicide run," she shook her head, her long dark hair whipping around for a moment as her fists clenched and she became more animated. "All of you probably arent even legal adults. Hell, I _know_ Lindt back there isn't and I _know_ that i'm not. But people like us shouldn't _have_ to fight monsters like him. People like us shouldn't _have_ to paint targets on our backs by stealing from people like him! People shouldn't _have_ to live in fear for their lives because of people like him!"

At that last exclamation Indominus reached back and grabbed ahold of her swords grip, tearing it out of the ground with a spray of dirt, gravel and asphalt. "People like us shouldn't _have_ to do the things we do to survive…" There was a commotion behind me as she trailed off, the dogs growling and Rachel muttering to them.

"And someone like _me_..." She hesitated, her tip blade dropping just a bit. "Someone like _me_ shouldn't resort to having to use force in order to keep people like _you_ from going willingly to your deaths."

The screaming in my head reached a near deafening crescendo as what she was saying clicked. "GRUE!" I yelled, the action practically making my head feel like it was splitting open. "COVER! BITCH!"

"Judas! Fetch!" Rachel ordered and the the ground shook slightly under my feet as the giant dog ran up behind me. "Angelica! Attack!"

My power finally turned as Judas's teeth closed gently around my arms and I got a single good look at Indominus as she brought her sword about and Angelica charged forward.

 _'She's not actually acting out of malice, she's just doing what she thinks is necessary to keep us from getting ourselves killed…'_

Everything was fading around me as the black of unconsciousness closed in.

 _'The real deal- an Idealist- someone who actually wants to be a Hero for the... sake... of… oth...ers... mayb-'_


	8. Chapter 8

NOTE: I reworked #7 and it got split into two. #7 and #8 (this one) so you may want to go check that out.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

I planted my feet and slid one foot forward as the mutant, muscle and bone covered, Dog-Beast sped toward me; kicking up pieces of loose asphalt where is big paws landed. Shifting my hands to either end of my swords hilt I twisted, reached my arms back… then I swung. The cut would be true, I knew, as my blade sliced through the air in a path that would take the razor edge of my sword through the supporting muscles and ligaments of its front leg.

But then it wasn't, my left knee smashed into the ground and my blade was suddenly sent veering off course. It was still in play though and the sheer momentum of several hundred pounds of metal couldn't be so easily stopped. But it didn't matter, the size of the Dog-Beast made its speed deceptive; and just as it would have taken my blade to its neck it jumped away, leaving only a cleanly cut length of bone behind.

Growling, I glanced to the roiling black cloud that had encompassed the area around where the Undersiders had been. Regent, his power to had something to do with muscles or something. PHO and the file Assault had gotten me on the Undersiders hadn't been too clear on him but he was definitely going to be a problem.

Shifting my grip, I brought the tip of my blade crashing back down into the ground and used it to help me get back to my feet when the Dog-Beast reoriented itself and let out a spittle filled roar. Scrambling, its claws dug long furrows in the ground as it slid to a stop, then it lunged.

Not bothering with precision this time, I ripped my sword from the ground, brought it back up and swung; smashing its flat against the side of the Dog-Beasts reaching maw. Then, instead using precious seconds to bring it back around, I took one hand of the hilt as my sword swung wide and kicked out; smashing the heel of my surplus army boot into its side and knocking it off his paws.

Scrambling to its paws, it lunged _again_ and in that instant my mental rolodex shuffled to clear space while a new selection shot out of it; to my slot fortunately, and not one of the other six.

Catching my blade behind my back with my free hand I brought it back about as I ACTIVATED the selection with a thought- _INTENT_ , it was labeled -and the Dog-Beast skidded to a halt; one big, cyclopean eye set into the center of its head focusing in on me and dilating. Then it just fell onto its side, turned its head away and tucked a fleshy, bone spur covered, tail against its stomach.

I glanced down at the beast briefly but when it didn't move walked forward I turned my attention focused on the shifting cloud of black, undulating smoke that surrounded the other two Dog-Beasts and the rest of the Undersiders.

In a motion that was _far_ too comfortable for the time I had practiced with it- thank you _MULTI-MELEE MASTER_ -I shifted the grip on my sword again so I could use the flat back edge of it as a bludgeon. Then I crouched, ready to _step_ forward with _SPEED BLITZ_ when the cloud of smoke split, a column of it shooting toward the terminal before it stopped against a wall.

Looking to the spot I felt my _SIDEKICK_ designate and made to move and assist when less than a second later the smoke began to dissipate; revealing Battery crouched over the leather clad form of Grue. I looked back to where the main cloud was already dissipating and tensed, readying to _step_ into the midst of the the group when I locked eyes with the thick bodied girl with a cheap dog mask. Rachel Lindt, one of the few that I had been able to pull up the most information on.

If I could subdue or take her out of commission then the dogs would revert to guarding her and not the others.

I stared and I _knew_ she was looking right back at me when the boy in the renaissance fair outfit- Regent -shouted something at her. But she either ignored him or didn't hear him because she only she snapped her head away from me when he smacked her with a golden rod.

Looking back to me she stumbled and she stepped back, then she looked to Grue and Battery, then back in my direction. She took another step back and shook her head before whistling and the dog with a limp Tattletale in its mouth ran up to her. Looking at me again she scrambled onto its back, shouted an order, and then Dog-Beasts took off; barreling down the street and out of sight when they turned a corner.

Narrowing my eyes I tensed, readying to the _step_ after them; to hunt them down as my lips stretched into a Mad Grin[™].

"Ah-ah, let em go. I think you terrified them well enough for one night. And remember? _Your'e_ the one that asked me to keep an eye on you, welI, I can't exactly do that if you go running off after them now can I."

Looking toward the ferry terminal I watched as Assault dropped down from the roof. And slowly, I untensed and let _SPEED BLITZ_ descend back into my selection.

"And besides, If me and Puppy brought _all_ of them in then I think Halbeard'd have an Aneurysm." He grinned, "Then I think I'd _really_ be in trouble."

A disgusting, all to wet slurping sound distracted me from replying; and looking back to the prone Dog-Beast I saw thick layers of muscle and bone peel away; falling off the mutant dog to become so much meas and reveal a medium sized, reddish-brown furred dog. Although, looking at it I suspected the red was from the meat suit it had been in. Angelica, I think Lindt had called it.

Letting out a little whimper, the dog resumed the position it had been in while in in its larger form.

"Ah, Mazel Tov, it's a girl." Assault proclaimed in a thick voice and I looked back a he dramatically threw his hands up.

I just kept staring before until he sighed and slumped. "Everybody's a critic."

"And you _wonder_ why she beats on you," I muttered, and swung my sword around to sink it deep into the asphalt of the parking lot; leaning against it I watched as Assault reach up to press his hand against his helmet.

"Yeah, Console. I'm gonna need a pickup and bio disposal team down at the Northern ferry station. That's right, we've got..."

I looked back to the dog as it let out another low whine. Well, at least I wasn't going to be bored tonight.

+X+X+X+X+

A little while later I was once again sitting on the edge of a rooftop. Only, instead of overlooking a city, I was looking out on a parking lot filled with three large P.R.T. transport trucks; one of which had just pulled up to help haul away the spoiling meat suit Angelica had been piloting. Absently reaching over, I scratched at the one ear the mutt in question had. The other being little more than a stump. She was perfectly cooperative as seemed to actually enjoy my ministrations.

As Battery had explained it, when a dog is in the position it had been in- exposing its vulnerable areas, its neck and belly- it meant it was submitting to you; that is was acknowledging you as being stronger than it.

That had been the first new thing I'd learned, the second being that P.R.T. troopers tend to get just a _little_ nervous when someone who can take on lung is 'lurking' around. Sure, _one_ had come up and thanked me for helping take him down but the others had kept their distance. Assault had suggested that I stay out of the way until we could head out- evidently, he wanted me to take care of the paperwork the PRT had been talking about in the PM they'd sent me.

There _had_ been a link to the printable version of the documents that I could bring in on my own time- which I had explained -but he'd been insistent. He had then explained that getting me to come in had apparently been the condition for him to get the info on the Undersiders and that was that. So now I was waiting for him to finish up giving a report or something so we could head out.

The roof access door creaked open a little ways behind me.

"Hey."

Stopping my scratches, I looked back over to see Battery. "Hey," I returned as the older cape leaned up against a gutted AC unit; pretty standard staple of abandoned buildings I was coming to find.

"Hows she behaving?"

Shifting my position, I slid one foot under my thighs and half turned so I could look at Battery easier. I scratched along the ridge of the dog's nose, not really minding the wetness that was coating my fingers; disgusting, oh yes, but not really that big a deal.

"Allright, no biting or anything. I think she may be hungry though."

Making a wondering noise in the back of her throat she leaned forward to pet the dog but pulled her hand back when Angelica turned her head to the appendage and growled.

"Yeah, I think I'll tell the boys to let you keep her company for the time being."

I nodded and made a decision on a thought that had been bouncing around. "Thanks, I was thinking I'll try and get her back to Lindt."

"Really? After she sent her to attack you?"

"Why not," I asked. "Where else would she go to, the pound?" I shook my head, "Forgive me, but I've seen the pounds in the city."

"Hmm."

I wasn't sure whether the thoughtful noise was neutral or what. But taking it for what it was I sat there and appreciated the companionable silence until Battery broke it.

"Its probably not any or my business but… well you got pretty fired up down there, earlier, when you asked the Undersiders your 'Question'- is there anything you want to talk about?"

My cheeks warming I looked down. "Ah, I hadn't really meant it to come out like that. I bet I sounded pretty preachy didn't I?"

"Maybe a little."

"Yeah… I just- I don't know, there just a symptom of the city but a part of the problem at the same time. When we were on our way here, with what your guys's file said about them robbing one of Lung's casinos, it just sorta... clicked." I shook my head in frustration. "If they hadn't gone and done that, if I hadn't gotten into a fight with Lung- it's cause and effect, action and reaction."

"Your worried about what the people on PHO were saying aren't you?"

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. With Lung's arrest the ABB loses most of its strength. Sure, there's Oni Lee and Bakuda- but how long can they really hold out with the E88 on one side and the Merchants on the other." And then there was the other big factor, I looked up to Battery. "And how long before they try and break Lung out when they start losing ground."

"Lung is secure in the PHQ's lockup," she tried to re-assure me. "Those cells are built to contain powerful Parahumans like him, he won't be going anywhere until he's on a one way trip to the Birdcage." It didn't really work though. I had _felt_ Lungs strength, his will and his drive when we'd fought; how utterly determined he had been not to lose. I sincerely doubted that a containment cell, even a well designed one, be enough to hold him.

"And what about Hookwolf?" I asked. "He's been captured twice, once in Two Thousand n' Three and again in Two Thousand n' Nine. Both times he was freed while in transit. Bakuda is a tinker that makes bombs and Oni Lee is a teleporter that leaves behind temporary clones that can act autonomously. That is a dangerous combination if any. Especially with both those people in a situation where they would get desperate enough to do something."

"That's an awfully pessimistic view of things you know. It can't be healthy."

I nodded in agreement, and reaching down I picked up a piece of gravel off the roof to roll it between my palms. Back and forth, back and forth. "It is, and it isn't... However, nothing's really happened that has challenged it."

"You could always join the Wards you know? Be around others your own age. We would have people you could talk to."

"And the chances of me being able to fight like I do if I were to join?" I raised a hand to cut her off, "No, better question, what about the chances of me actually being able to try and make a difference in the city without being turned into a talking spokes piece or be tied down so much by public relations and regulation that it would be impossible for me to do anything."

"But what about what you said then, about cause and effect?"

I looked up from my slowly smoothing rock to Battery, my body tired and so very, very heavy. "And there's the rub…"

She took off a few minutes after that, heading back out on patrol or something and meeting up with a short girl in a foam green dress at the edge of the parking lot. I couldn't mistake her. Vista, the most senior of the local Wards team but also the last one who would be awarded command.

Age before experience, just another problem with that option.

After talking for a bit disappeared in a warp of twisted space. I couldn't help but smile as I made the connection to Lovecraft and what she was occasionally called on the Discussion Boards; Kid Cthulhu indeed.

Laying back, I looked up to the night sky and began idly connecting one of the twinkling light to their neighbor in an expanding kaleidoscope of imagination. I got a little lost in it and at some point, angelica had laid lain down next to me.

"OY! KID!"

My attention back to the real world with the shout, and sitting up I looked down at the parking lot to see Assault waving his hand; beckoning me to come down.

Nodding, I gathered up Angelica under one arm and slid off the roofs edge; bending my knees as I feel to absorb the shock of the short drop so as not to risk unduly hurting her. Then I set her down and told her to 'follow' as I walked over to the white armored cape; reaching out, I snagged my sword along the way. The casual way I pulled it from the ground seemed to startle the guys bagging up the slabs of meat but whatever, I just slung it onto my shoulder as I walked up to Assault.

"You're all done?"

"For now at least, this was just details stuff," his upper lip turned up in a grimace, "I'll probably have a dozen more of the damn things to fill out before I can clock out… but whatever," he held his hand out to one of the souped up, armored and lifted, SUV's that some of the PRT troopers had arrived in. "Right now your chariot awaits."

I looked from it, to my sword, then back. "I don't think it will fit."

It was only moments after Assault began to giggle that I realized that I may have been exposed to too much of his stupid.


	9. Chapter 9

The ride to the PHQ went pretty quick, only a few minutes tops what with them turning on their sirens. And sitting in the back while we blew through intersection I came to understand why cops did that just to avoid stopping at red lights. It was fun.

I rocked in my seat a little as the armored SUV turned and descended into a subterranean parking garage; starting and stopping a few times as we drove through thick security gates. And looking out my window as we drove deeper into the parking garage I saw multiple rows vehicles; several of which were identical to the one I was riding in while a few others were the larger trucks that had come to pick up the remains of Angelica's meat suit.

Quickly enough though we were pulling into a parking space along a wall and we all piled out. Then, with the help of one of the troopers that had ridden back with us to open the back door of the SUV, I was able to retrieve my sword; it had ended up fitting after all.

Slinging it onto my shoulder, I headed to Assault who was standing next to an open elevator; periodically pressing the down button in order to keep it where it was with an almost childish grin that made me think this wasn't the first time he had done so. I was about halfway to him when a voice to my right brought me to a halt.

"Im sorry Miss, but only authorized personnel may be armed beyond this point. I'm afraid you'll need to leave your weapon here."

Stopping, I looked to see a tall, black armored trooper with a neat beard stepping out of a door set into the concrete wall with a thick looking window next to it that showed a room beyond.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"...You know it wouldn't really make all that much of a difference right?"

The trooper simply nodded, "Yes Miss, however regulations require that you surrender your weapon if you wish to proceed past this point. It will be returned to you upon leaving."

I stared at the trooper for a long moment before cocking my head to the side. "You drew the short straw didn't you."

"I am afraid I cannot comment on anything to that effect Miss." He replied, barely missing a beat.

The corner of my lips turning up in a smirk, I slung my sword off my shoulder and let it fall to the floor; stopping it just an inch from hitting the concrete floor. "Ok, but If I leave this here I expect it to be here when I come back."

"Not to worry Miss, it will be."

"Very well, is there anywhere specific that you want me to put it?"

The trooper held out a hand to the wall next to us. "Up against the wall is fine."

Nodding, I leaned the my sword up against the wall and observed with some interest as the tip dug into the floor a little. I'd known it was sharp but jeez; I guess i'd need to do some more work with it to see just what it could do.

I watched as the trooper stepped up next to the wall and stood next the my sword, his hands behind his back and legs spread. It looked very professional and all, but the image was _somewhat_ detracted from by the fact that my black sword was just about as big as he was. Then, adding in the length of the hilt and the the ring on the end of it it was just a few feet shy of touching the concrete ceiling. It made him look a little small.

Pursing my lips to hold back a giggle I continued the rest of the way Assault and the bank of elevators; and getting into the metal box- with only a second of hesitation, yay me -I realized I wouldn't have even been able to get in with my sword without shifting it back to it's staff form. I eyed the cieling lights of the elevator, but even then… "Hm."

"Whats up." Assault asked.

I gestured to the enclosed, but actually rather roomy, space of the elevator, "I was just thinking I should probably experiment with my staff just incase I have to fight in a small place."

"Huh? Why, you did well enough against Lung without it."

Looking to the man, I saw his head dip just a bit with the barest of nods before tiling up and I glanced up to the elevators ceiling. Ah, of course, it stood to reason that they would have people monitoring them.

"Well for one it would be another force multiplier, I mean with my sword I can cut stuff and with my hammer I can focus the all my strength into one spot. But secondly… well, I didn't exactly leave many of the buildings I fought with lung in in any usable condition now did I."

"Ah, point taken." And as he nodded- if somewhat exaggeratedly -the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Well that was a smooth ride. I told Assault so as we headed down the hall.

"Yeah that's Armsmasters doing. It was before Battery and I got transferred here but supposedly his tinkerness kept making him frustrated with how slow they were so he worked his magic on them." He stopped stopped in front of a door and opened it, waving me into a medium sized room with a generic conference table and chairs. Settling into one of them I whistled and Angelica, who had been quietly following along and was sniffing around near the door, walked over to me; and when I pointed at the floor she laid down.

My attention was drawn back to Assault as he snorted.

"What?" I asked, suspicious of what the man child found funny this time.

Shrugging, he stepped back into the hallway, "Nothing, just thinking that that mutt has been behaving better than some of the P.R.T's K-Nine units... Anyway, this is it for me. Ive got to report in but someone'll be along in a bit with those registration forms-"

"And some food for Angelica," I interjected.

"Right, and I'll tell them to get some food… Well, see you around kid."

I reclined in the chair as he closed the door behind him and got to waiting, occasionally looking over to a little dome camera set into the corner of the ceiling; idly wondering if they were trying to test how long I would sit and wait when the door opened and someone who certainly _wasn't_ a desk clerk came in with a manila folder in one hand and a grocery bag in the other.

The american flag scarf covering the lower half of her face was as distinctive as the green military fatigues she wore. Miss Militia.

+X+X+X+X+

"This... really isn't normal is it," I asked a little bit later as I finished filling out a page; looking to the older woman across from me as I set it aside.

The skin at the corners of Miss Militias hazel eyes crinkled as she smiled beneath her bandana and she shook her head, "Not particularly, no. However, I was available and I decided to meet the new cape that's been twisting Armsmaster into knots."

"Oh," I asked, and looking back down at the sheaf of paperwork I flipped to the next page.

"Well, you played the leading role in taking down Lung last night and that was your first night out. Then tonight you manage to help bring in someone from a group that he's been looking for. It's very impressive for one so young… you'd be a great addition to the Wards you know."

"Not interested." And I absently checked several boxes as she let out a little sigh.

"Thats what Battery said, just thought I'd ask though."

I stopped as I came to a box, "Endbringer and S-Class fights, what kind of guarantees or safeguards are in place for those. I mean, I know Villains attend them but…" Leaving the question open ended I looked up from the form to meet Miss Militias suddenly serious gaze.

Miss Militia sat forward. "For all intents and purposes, when there is an Endbringer attack heroes and villains operate under a sort of…unofficial but semi official truce in place: it's usually called the Endbringer Truce. While it is in effect we don't go after them and they don't go after us. Following that, after the Endbringer is gone, we lick our wounds and don't do anything like what you did with the Undersiders tonight."

"I never agreed to anything like that when Tattletale set up the meeting, she didn't bring it up."

The woman across from me was quiet before nodding, "Be that as it may, its more the spirit of the matter. So in the future you don't want to do things like that, otherwise you can earn a reputation for being untrustworthy and in this line of work a good or bad reputation can be everything. Although," she nodded toward where Angelica was laying next to a pair of empty food and water bowls, "returning the dog to Hellhound is certainly a start."

I was tempted to argue with her as my temper flared. I wanted to argue about what bullshit that was, about how completely _stupid_ something like a 'truce' was when one of the parties was willing to literally terrorize the people in the territory they controlled; but I didn't push it. And as it was, I could still somewhat understood _why_ something like a truce was necessary.

After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend- or at the very least temporary ally -and in the case of the Endbringers they were _all_ of Humanity's enemy; and that wasnt even taking into account how badly the Villains outnumbered the Heroes. That didn't mean I liked it though. I didn't , not one bit.

I filled out the rest of the forms in silence, mulling over what Miss Militia had said but also taking the time to ACTIVATE _AUTOPILOT_ and use the time to take a look at a new selection that had just appeared in my mental rolodex. Flipping to it, I pulled it out to examine it but when I did it was blacked out. Unfortunate, but that in itself wasnt all too surprising. I had many other selections that were the blacked out, or couldn't be ACTIVATED, or even _viewed_ ; despite that though it didn't make it any less disappointing.

But, I had a new selection to pick so there was that, and placing it back into its slot in my metaphysical rolodex I sorted a few others around before I DEACTIVATED _AUTOPILOT_. Coming out of it, I immediately noticed that I had reached the end of the form and that I started to sign my name… my _actual_ name. Fortunately, I caught myself before I even finish; but _unfortunately_ the damage was done and all I was missing from my signature was the _ert_ at the end of _Hebert_ so I couldn't very well just scratch it out.

I glanced over at Angelica, I could _maybe_ try and get her to eat it; but it looked like she'd already had her fill, and what if she spat it back out. No, _her_ eating it wouldn't work… Looking down at the form, I grabbed the bottom of the paper and ripped the signature portion off; quickly crumpling it into a ball and shoved it into my mouth to the wide eyed stare of Miss Militia.

Chewing and mashing the ball into something edible I swallowed, the dense lump of paper not going down easily but going down nonetheless. Coughing into my hand I gestured at the form, "Could I get another?"

Blinking, Miss Militia stared at me for a moment longer before her the corners of her eyes crinkled and her shoulders began to tremble. Slowly, she reached down and brought up a bag of vegetable chips she had brought with her in the bag that had had the dog food, bowls and her sandwich. "May- maybe I could take you to the Cafeteria if you're that hungry."

Suddenly, I realized what she meant and my cheeks began to rapidly warm. God damn double entendres.

+X+X+X+X+

Ultimately, I ended up turning down Miss Militia's generous offer of a visit to the cafeteria with the excuse that it was getting to be late- which it admittedly was -but that had just been a convenient excuse. And with my cheeks still somewhat flush with embarrassment, I rode the elevator down to the parking garage with Miss Militia at my side; who had come along in order to escort me out after handing off my filled out- and totally not eaten -forms over to a clerk.

The elevator dinged, and when the doors slid open I stepped out and turned on my heel to make a BEELine to where I'd left my sword; I'd only had it for all of twentyfour hours but still, it was mine. Except… stopping in front of where I'd left it I stared down in confusion at my unwieldy staff. Well what hell.

Stepping up to the window I rapped on the thick pane. Which, now that I was close saw it was kinda like the really thick glass a the aquarium. That thickness didn't matter though and as I knocked I heard a resounding _bong bong bong_ from within.

The door set into the wall opened up a moment later and the trooper from earlier stepped out, tense and looking around in confusion. Stepping up to him I pointed at my staff, which I _had_ left as a sword. "I thought you said nothing would happen to it if I left it down here."

The trooper leaned back and looked to where I was pointing. "Ah, nothing did happen Miss. Your weapon simply… changed, to how it is now several minutes after you left." Pressing a fist to his mouth he cleared his throat, "As regulation dictated I stood guard and ensured that no one disturbed it and only just stepped away a moment ago."

Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I looked between the trooper and my staff before stepping back. "Fine." It _was_ a bit immature but I'd learned the hard way about things happening to my possessions.

Walking over to my unwieldy staff I picked it up and leaned it against my shoulder, my fingers hooked under one end before looking to Miss Militia. I opened my mouth to ask if she was ready when a shout of- "Hold up!" -drew my attention.

It was a trooper; he was a bit on the short side with thinning blond hair and had been one of the number that rode back in the SUV with Assault and I. Hustling up to us, I saw he had something in his hands; Tattletales lunchbox of money… ah, oops.

He nodded respectfully to Miss Militia before proffering the battered metal box to me. "You left this."

Thanking him, I turned back to Miss Militia once he'd headed back to wherever he'd come from, "I guess I'm ready."

Nodding, she led me to a door set into the concrete wall that opened up into a long corridor. Ten minutes and stops at three different guard stations later I was standing in front of a door without any discernible handle and only a number pad set into the wall next to us. Stepping forward and blocking the view with her body, Miss Militia tapped at the keypad and the door began sliding sliding into the wall.

I tucked the lunchbox as she stepped aside and held out my hand for a somewhat awkward shake. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"The same, and take care of yourself," she reached into her breast pocket and came out with a white rectangle; a business card. "Call if something comes up."

Taking the card I slipped it into one of my pants pockets, "Thanks." And with that I turned to the doorway but I stopped before I walked through, "Actually, um, there is something." I said, a little embarrassed.

"Yes?"

"Well… I was wondering if I could get an autograph. It's for my dad, he told me he had a crush on you when you were on the original Wards team and I thought he'd appreciate it."

Blinking at the randomness of my question her eyes crinkled and told me to wait a minute as she walked back to the last- or was it first? -guard post. A minute later she came back with a slip of notepaper; her autograph was scrawled over the top with ' _To: The loving Father of a courageous daughter_ ' written out below it.

Smiling at the thought of giving it to dad I thanked her and slipping it into one of my pants side pockets I scooped up Angelica under one arm while keeping a hold of TattleTales' lunch box of cash. It was a rather awkward and as I stepped through the doorway I made a mental note to see about getting a backpack or satchel to carry things in while out and about.

Then, bringing _SPEED BLITZ_ to the top of my selection I ACTIVATED it; and with a _step_ I was a block away.


	10. Chapter 10

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the tantalizing scent of bacon was wafting up from downstairs. And I hated it.

I hated it because I had to pick out a new selection for the school day, a selection with which I _couldn't_ accidentally turn Emma into a smear on the hallway floor when she inevitably tied her usual bullshit. I had to do that when all I wanted to do do was go down and eat. But no, I _couldn't_ do that otherwise I would get whatever random selection popped out of my mental rolodex; and _that_ was just a recipe for disaster.

Grunting, I weighed two selections from my rolodex in my metaphysical hands; balancing the pros and cons associated with each before choosing one and placing it into my slot with the rest of the selections I had carefully chosen for today. No _ZERO FUCKS_ though, it had been a mistake in choosing _that_ selection and I didn't need a repeat of pimp slapping Emma just yet.

Opening my eyes, I looked to the foot of my bed to see Angelica; her one eye staring up at me. I stared back until she ducked her head, however we both looked to my door as one when a muffled crash of metal on metal and tile echoed up from downstairs.

Smirking, I uncrossed my legs and entwined my fingers as I got out of the half lotus position I'd taken to sitting in when choosing my selection. It didn't really do anything and it was just a way to sit but like going for my run it had become a part of my morning rituals.

Stepping down to the floor, I pulled my comforter tight to straighten out any creases before whistling and beckoning to Angelica I left my room to head downstairs; the tan furred dog hopping off my bed and following after me. She'd been a bit squirly the night before what with her needing a bath; but the stuff in her fur from her meat suit had started solidify and stink, which was a big no no once I'd gotten home with her.

Sure, the pet store I'd made a stop at had been one thing, dad had been another; but the idea of her sleeping on my bed like that had been something else all together.

Walking into the kitchen I found dad on his hands and knees, a rag in one hand as he wiped up what looked like bacon grease off the floor. Hesitantly, Angelica edged past me to where I had set out a food and water bowl for her; then, she looked to me and only when I nodded did she start to eat.

It was rather annoying, how she differed to me with almost everything- but whatever; I didn't pay it any mind as I grabbed a rag off the counter and knelt down to help dad clean up.

Then, once the mess had been cleaned, we had a nice, peaceful breakfast. He talked about the contract for the cleanup work for the docks that the Union was going to bid on and and I told him about my night; even running back upstairs to grab the Miss Militia autograph I'd gotten for him.

His red face and embarrassed flustering had _definitely_ made it worth it. It felt like we were a family again.

+X+X+X+X+

Two meetings two mornings in a row and both about the same cape; it was dealing with the chief when he had a political bug up his ass all over again. God, what a tiresome drag that had been…

Staring at Armsmaster as he stood at the head of the conference table, I _really_ had to try hard not to speak up and tell him that he was starting to remind me of an old patrol partner that had been really into MMO's. First the man started grinding the day before to utilize his stat boost. His: Optimum Peak Performance Level; is what he had called it when I'd asked him about it in the gym.

And now he was obsessing with a weapon. Really, the parallels were just so obvious.

Hopefully though, with his analysis data he would at least go back to shutting himself up in his lab- if the scientific jargon he was spouting was any indication. Letting me use the machines without having to listen to him critiquing my reps or quietly- but not too quietly -gripping about how the machines could be improved.

"-furthermore, analysis of the weapon Indominus created during our battle with Lung revealed a potential weakness in the event conflict becomes necessary. Due to the way it's molecular composition is structured, an intense and sudden temperature change may be able to destabilize it and cause it to lose cohesion. However, I would also like to note that also due to the structure the material should be brittle and potentially be prone to fracturing along high stress areas. Thus I must conclude that the weapon is reinforced by her own powers, although this also means it could destabilize and come apart if separated from her presence for a long enough period of time."

Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had installed an internal oxygen supply in himself so he could talk without having to take a breath. Glancing down at my helmet I began rubbing at a new spot with my polish rag; it didn't really do much, but it gave my hands something to do and gave me an excuse to not look like I was paying attention.

"And there is one final thing, in the brief time I was able to analyze weapons sword form I was able to determine that it had a stable and non-degrading monomolecular edge. When combined with the strength she had displayed It is my official recommendation that only Mid to High Brute rated parahumans or equipment be utilized in engaging her lest they are liable to not survive such an encounter without immediate medical treatment."

And~ as of last quarter power testing my armor put me in the Mid level brute rankings, great. " _Why **thank you** Armsmaster, because the thought of going against a little girl who could tangle with Lung wasn't unsettling enough without the assurance that you would be one of the first ones into the meat grinder if she went off the rocker._ " At least that's what I _would_ have said that had I not held my tongue, yet another thing being a detective had prepared me for.

"On a brighter note, however; I conferred with Dragon on the data I gathered and she believes a new type of body armor may be able to be developed. It would use an impregnated resin to help the material maintain its stability, but overall it would potentially surpass the capabilities of our current stock… and that concludes my report."

"Very well, keep me informed of Dragons progress on that armor if you would Armsmaster." Piggot ordered, "Miss Militia, how did things go on your end?"

Turning my chair I shifted my attention to Hannah, watching as she leaned forward in her seat and clasped her hands on the table. "I can concur with what bettery reported before she went into testing, with the addition that she seemed... jaded."

"I see, and are you able still able to recall what she looked like?"

Hannah shifted in her seat and if I didn't know better I would have said she was disgruntled, uncomfortable at the question.

"Somewhat," she finally answered, "As soon as I was able to I contacted Dragon so she could utilize her facial recognition software. But my efforts were only able to reduce the margin of error by twenty three percent. As to the rest of our interaction; I should have my full report finished within the hour."

It was now Piggots turn to look disgruntled, and she expressed it a _lot_ more than Hannah. "Unfortunate, but some success is better than none and that is concurrent with what the think tank reported about her Stranger power. Perhaps more exposure to her would help?"

"...Perhaps." She answered neutrally and raised her clasped hands in front of her mouth.

I almost stopped polishing my helmet. Well now, wasn't _that_ interesting; how she was holding herself, her tone of voice pretty much translated to a flat out No. Idly, I wondered if anyone else had spotted it and glanced around the table, looking for tells.

Armsmaster… maybe, he relied too much on his lie detector as a crutch; despite admitting that it had its own weaknesses.

Robin… maybe, the Speedster had his moments but he was still fairly young and Jessica was practically sleeping in her chair after the power testing she'd been through. Ethan on the other hand… I watched his eyes flicked to Hannah. Yeah, he may be an insufferable man child but he was certainly far sharper than people gave him credit for.

I looked to Piggot to see her scrawling something out in her padfolio, her fingers holding a little too tightly around her pencil and her skin looked just a little clammy. She probably needed to get hooked up to her dialysis machine so not likely...

Stopping in front of a nondescript, grey metal door with a number twelve painted on it in black and viewing window set into it at average eye level I sighed. It never did get easier, kid's without super power and kids with super powers; seeing them sitting on the other side of the table always struck just a little too close to home.

I pushed the door open and Grue, the suspected leader of the Undersiders looked up and I saw he'd gone with the plain, motorcycle type, half mask in place of the motorcycle helmet he'd come in with. I got a good look at him as I walked around the the other side of the table.

He was tense, it was emphasized in his thick in the upper body; he'd probably worked in heavy lifting for some time. Then there was the critical and examining look in his eyes; smart, or at least streetsmart. But damnit, I'd eat my shoes if he was any older than seventeen, eighteen, max.

"The number you gave us for your lawyer went through," I told him, noting how his body relaxed a little, as his hands unclenched a bit; a few scars on his knuckles fading out of relief. "He should be here shortly but I hope you don't mind if ask you a few questions first." I held a hand out preemptively as the kid- and he really was just a Kid; albeit, not as much as Indominus -narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Off the record, of course. I'll leave if you dont want to talk."

Slowly, the Kid considered me before nodding. "You can ask.

"Right, its just the one…" Puting my hands on the table and clasping the together I leaned in, " _Why_?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean why did you choose to become a Villain," I clarified. "Why didn't you choses the rogue or hero route, if that isn't too much to ask."

The kid was quiet as he considered me and the caged clock high up on the wall behind him ticked past twelve twice before he answered. "I did try, I came here and offered to join the wards in exchange for legal assistance but the guy I met with told me you couldn't."

Deep in my gut I felt another weight settle in to weigh me down. It was a different system but it was still failing people all the same. "...I see, and by any chance do you remember the name of the clerk or officer that you met with?"

The kid leaned back a little more, his eyes locked on mine through my helmets eye slit. "I thought you said you only had the one?"

"Its important," I returned.

He shrugged, "Wilkes Something, I think." He answered after a moment, "...Why?"

"One more question first, if you don't mind." At the eventual incline of the kids head I continued, "The legal assistance, what was it? I don't need any specifics, just a general idea.

The Kid was slower to answer this time, a lot slower, and the second hand passed by twelve several more times. "I was trying to get custody of a younger family member because they were in a dangerous environment. Now, why don't we tell me why you asked about who I met with," he asked, no, demanded, his eyes hard- but also curious -as he met mine. There'd also been an edge to his voice, frustration, anger maybe… If so I could even feel for him, I was angry to.

"I asked so that I could know who needed to be _fired_." I tapped once on the table and shook my head, "Something like helping to remove a cape's sibling from a hostile environment is something that is _readily_ within the scope of what lengths the PRT would be willing to go for you to sign on to the Wards program. From what you just told me you became a criminal in order to help a family member because you got shafted due to someone's negligence or incompetence. Two such things I know Director Piggot does not tolerate."

The Kids gaze gained a new intensity. Anger, oh yes; but there was something else… A wisp of black floated up between us, and looking down I watched as more wisps of deep black smoke began seep out of the sleeves of his grey shirt. I raised my gaze back to meet his and after a bit the wisps that were gathering above us in a cloud began to dissipate, then ultimately disappear.

The atmosphere of the room descended into a thoughtful silence, and rather than break it or leave I just sat and waited to see if the Kid had any more questions. The minute hand of the clock on the wall ticking by until there was a knock on the door and it opened; revealing a certifiable ambulance chaser if I ever saw one. His combed over hair was even swept a little out of place as he stalked into the interrogation room and started making accusations of prisoner abuse and brutality and lawsuits.

I just ignored him though; walking past him as he spouted inane legal babble that wouldn't have held up in front of any experienced judge.

Opening the door and stepped out into the hallway-

"Hey," the kid called out.

Throwing my arm out to stop the door I looked over to my shoulder to him, "Yeah?"

"You might want to look into what your Psycho Stalker does when she's out on patrolling on her own." Reaching down and to the end of his handcuffs chain he lifted up his shirt to expose his stomach. "That crazy bitch shot me with a broadhead a few months back."

Narrowing my eyes I looked a little closer at his stomach and sure enough, in the line between the two abbs was a starburst of purple scar tissue. Well shit, "And by Psycho Stalker you mean-"

"Shadow Stalker," he confirmed, "me and my team ran into her twice and the second time she did this." He gestured to his stomach. "Tattletale said I interfered with her power or something so it was personal."

Lovely, and wasn't _that_ just something else to look into. "When."

The lawyer opened his mouth but the Kid shot a look at him that shut him up before turning back to me. "Mid February. _After_ you guys forced her into the wards for crucifying that one skinhead."

I shouldn't have been surprised that he knew about that, all the Empire grunts probably did since it had been one of their number… but goddamnit. "Thank's for letting me know, I'll look into this and someone should be by later to take a few pictures of the wound. Do you mind giving them a statement?"

Smiling, the Kid shook his head. I let the door swing shut behind me, my thoughts turning to what I needed to do.

* * *

Not sure with a few parts of this, supposed to be shorter and I got a little mixed up with chronology of the next snip.

Note: Jessica is Battery. (unless I missed her name when I looked)

Note: Not sure if canon or fanon but i'm going with the Cop/detective backstory for Dauntless. He's a bit older, late thritys to mid forties so he has a fair bit of prior experience to becoming a cpae since he became a cop fairly early on.


	11. Chapter 11

"Right. Lets start again from the top, this time I want you to try and focus on what she looked like."

"Are you fucking kidding me," Sarah asked, her voice sarcastic and insolent as it hissed out of the speaker, " _No_. Its not even ten and we've been over it three times since I fucking woke up, I'm sore as hell from being carried around like a goddamn bone and I've still got a headache so you can just wait."

Ah, so that was how she wanted to be. But... I suppose I could forgive her being testy, dealing with thinker headaches were always bothersome. However, that sympathy didn't mean it wasn't something a struggle to keep my voice neutral, "Very well, I will contact you again with a list of locations for you new base in…" checked the clock on my desk, "Lets say seven hours."

"Lets say ten." She retorted and with a snap of plastic on plastic the connection cut out.

Ah yes, she was very testy indeed. Perhaps a lesson to remind her just who she worked for would be in order. Flipping shut my phone I set it down on my desk and reached out with my free hand to tap at several keys on the keyboard in front of me. With the comment I input the image on the central screen displayed on the array of monitors in front of me changed; becoming a screen filled with little static boxes.

"So, you're too tired to cooperate with me but not too tired to remove my cameras are you."

I sucked between my teeth and checked the audio feeds in case she had missed them, all dead as well. Yes, a reminder would definitely be in order

It was unfortunate however that that would have to wait. I backtracked and the display on the central monitor returned to the profile I was painstakingly creating on the newest contender in the city. Indominus. One problem had been potentially removed, only for it to be supplanted by another; and, unlike Lung, this one most likely wouldn't be so easily maneuvered by false flag operations or cats paws.

Unfortunate, but not unworkable. Indominus _was_ a Hero after all, so maybe if the Empire made some overt moves she would be inclined to intervene… Yes, that was certainly a possibility.

Absently, I tapped in a notation to the file that that I would come back to consider when the opportunity to do so arose.

But, there was still a silver lining to every problem, one simply had to look for it in the right place. Or, as the case may have been, arrange it. Grue may have been taken in and his extrication would have to be arranged. But, the Undersiders being down a member, for at least a short time, would be worth what I'd learned.

Ten million degrees Kelvin, _that_ at least seemed to be able to breach the girls invulnerability; it was just a shame that Miss Newland was so reluctant, and that she had to be pushed so far in order to use the full scope of her power.

XXXX

"Asshole," I muttered and tossed the phone into the room of the safe house that I had declared as my own.

"That the boss?" Alec asked from the couch as I re-entered the living room; the sounds of the game he was playing making my brain hurt a little, something which _shouldn't_ have been possible; but it did nonetheless.

I grunted in his direction as I headed to the kitchen-ette and that seemed to be enough for him. But, as an explosion echoed out from the TV I stopped, turned around, and walked up behind him; grabbing up the remote and turning the volume down a little more from what he had already set it to.

Thankfully he didn't argue or bitch about it, my migraine had been miraculously gone- for the most part -when I'd woken up. But that hadn't meant all was peachy keen, oh no. I was sore all over from Brutus's part in my retreat, my head still felt like kids had cracked it open to play Operation on it and I _wanted_ to blackout my room and sleep for a few more few hours.

But I couldn't do that. Not with Coil calling, not with Brian having been taken in by the white hats and not with Rachel in a mood about Angelica. No, going to sleep for the rest of the day just wasn't an option.

The only _real_ bright side, was that I didn't have to worry about Coil constantly looking over my shoulder. Thanks to Alec- and a handful of my little friends -all I had had to do was point and he searched and destroyed. He, at least, didn't like the idea of being monitored either.

Sighing, I dropped the remote and headed back to the kitchen; flopping back down in front of my setup which I'd set up on the kitchen table. I stared at the doc on my laptops screen, filled with little bits and pieces that I'd been able to remember. Much of what I'd gotten off Indominus was simply gone, like it was erased. What I _did_ retain, however; my power clung to almost jealously. Like Smeagle holding onto the One Ring.

The cursor blinked, making fun of me as I struggled remember more of what I'd learned last night; the complete fuckup that that was. " _Oh, Lisa, I want to you to contact the cape that got into a smash fest with mother fucking Lung... Oh, you were already going to, that's good. Just make sure to offer her a place in the Undersiders while also getting every bit of information you can on her just in case she refuses. M'kay_?"

I snorted, and making a bullet I put in a line of information. I _should_ have just told Coil to kindly go fuck himself when he decided to go ahead and insert his plans into my gesture of thanks. But then again, even if I _had_ followed the original plan of just Brian and I going to meet her, things probably would have gone off the rails. The _Real Deal_ , that was one of the things that had stuck hard and hadn't faded whatsoever; it was crystal clear.

I tapped out several more bullets of information; military surplus clothes bought in town, power induced mental state-

The table rattled as something hit it and I looked up to see Rachel; three of her dog leashes held in a tight knuckled fist which was pressed against the table, her face set into the perpetual glower it had been in since I'd woken up. She was never what one would call 'pretty'; butch, yes. With her short hair, masculine features, muscular build and squarish face it was an accurate term to describe her and the expression just made it worse, she held out her hand. "Credit Card."

It was a demand not a request; damnit, we needed Brian back. I couldn't do this for long. "Your going out," I asked, taking my time to casually dig my wallet out of my pocket. She'd chosen other things to get out of the warehouse when we evacuated and her wallet hadn't been one of them.

"I need to check on the dogs. Feed them and make sure they're all right."

Ah, I hurried in picking my debit card out of my wallet and handing it over the older girl slipped it into her jeans back pocket. Fortunately, Rachel's kennel had been far out of the way of the destruction Lung and Indominus had caused. "Do you know when you are going to be back? I think Alec was planning to order Pizza."

Questions… weren't exactly Rachels thing; but she stopped anyway, her hand close to her lips and about to whistle for the dogs. She looked back to me, "I don't know." Putting her fingers to her lips she blew twice; creating two sharp, high pitched whistles and not a second later the sound of paws scrabbling on wood floors echoed down the hall.

I focused on Rachel though and, after a brief second of consideration, activated my power and _looked_ as Brutus and Judas skidded to a stop in front of her.

 _She's Nervous, but putting on a good enough front for Brutus and Judas that they don't notice. She's Afraid- Afraid for Angelica -but not letting it show either… No, Afraid of something else. Scared. Angry… Conflicted. The third leash still in her hand- for Angelica… Ah._

I smiled with my lips closed, "Have a good walk Rachel." She looked back without responding as she clipped Judas and Brutus leashes to their collars, then started for the door before halting. Reaching up she touched at her shoulder, a look of surprise momentarily crossing her face.

"Stay," she told the dogs, and dropping their leashes she fast walked back down the hall and came back a moment later with her backpack; the blue handle of her ball thrower sticking out of it.

 _Confused. Almost forgot her backpack. Anxious. Uncertain_.

As soon as Rachel slammed the door I cut off my power, and flinching I pressed my palm to my temple. Still gonna need a bit longer before I do any extended reads. Damnit.

Sighing, I reaching into my pocket and fished out my little emergency pill bottle; shaking out two of the little white pills into my hand and throwing them back. Putting the bottle back, I grabbed for my water bottle; and drinking the last little bit to wash down the pills I reached out to tap at my laptops keyboard.

She's middle Class, sees and has been told about what the city used to be like. Wants to clear out the Villains. The ones that are...

I stopped, my fingers hovering over the keys as I remembered a my last line of thought from the night before. "Maybe..."

Saving the doc to its flash drive, I pulled it from the computer and slipped it into my collar and beneath the material under my shirt. A bit cliche, yes. But _because_ something was cliche almost nobody actually gave it any thought since it was so obvious. Reverse psychology at its finest.

Putting my fingers back to the keys and trackpad I opened a browser window, brought up Parahumans Online and guided the mouse to the new account button.

+X+X+X+X+

As Angelica tugged on her leash to sniff at something I stopped and waited, kicking at a loose pebble in the sidewalk until she started walking again.

It had been surprisingly… nice at school. There had been no retaliatory attacks from Emma or her flunkies. I wasn't called up to the office and i'd even been given a folder of the work I'd missed for the day, despite my ditching.

I'd actually entertained the vague idea that Blackwell had decided to do her job. But that idea had been quickly discarded, this was probably just a lull, Emma, Madison and Sophia would strike back eventually. Just as they always did.

Sighing at the somewhat depressing train of thought I turned my attention back to the wider world as we turned onto our block; the late afternoon sun peeking just over the roof tops.

When we reached the house I saw that Dad's sedan was parked in the driveway. He was home early, that was actually a surprise; since usually he didn't get home early- or on time -unless he'd been out of the office for the day. Idly, I wondered if that meant the Union got the contract for cleaning up the mess I'd made down in the docks after al;l and my spirits re-lifting at that thought I turned off the sidewalk, Angelica turning along with me onto the path to the door.

Then she stiffened, the terrier mutt- as one of the other dog walkers we'd encountered during our walk had called her -sniffed and continued to do so until she was straining against her leash, her tail wagging furiously behind her. I sniffed. _I_ couldn't smell anything, but that didn't really mean anything when compared to what a dog could.

Dad was home though, so maybe he'd decided to start dinner early and that's what she was smelling. Stepping over the loose step and reaching the door I sniffed again, and this time I smelled the wondrous scent of Mom's meatloaf. Yeah, that would definitely have excited the dog.

Salivating at the thought of dinner I dug out my house key from my pocket; and jamming it into the door I opened it and swung it open, calling out "I'm Home" when the words died on my lips.

Oh… Angelica let out a little bark and tugged on her leash. I could practically taste Mom's meatloaf in the air alright; but standing in front of me, between the hallway to the kitchen, the stairs and the living room was Rachel Lindt.

* * *

Note: The tropes are only comming up when they are ACTIVATED, ACTIVATING, DEACTIVATING or DEACTIVATED. That doesnt mean they arent running or running in the background.


	12. Chapter 12

"Kiddo, there's someone here to see you," Swinging the door shut behind me I looked over to the living room and saw Dad, sitting in his favorite chair with two large dogs on either side of him. A Rottweiler and German Shepherd respectively. The nonchalant way he was sitting there, sipping a beer told me situation wasn't _too_ serious.

Although then again, he'd worked in the Union for over a decade so he wasnt exactly unused to violence and fighting; and looking him over it became apparent the he wasnt exactly as relaxed as he appeared. His free hand was clenched into a white knuckled fist and a vein in his neck was throbbing. There also seemed to be a bit of swelling on the side of his jaw.

I looked back to Lindt, who stood there quietly, just staring at me; a similar swelling under her left eye.

So he hadn't exactly gone down without a fight or gone easy on her, that was good. However with the two dogs- which were probably just as well trained as Angelica - he would have been outnumbered. Angelica barked again and tugged on her leash, pulling toward Lindt whose eyes momentarily flicked down to the dog before returning to mine.

Then the dog let out a low- and quite pitiful -whine, and sighing, I bent over and unclipped the leash from her collar. And off the dog went, hurrying up to Lindt and circling her, her tail wagging happily away.

Blinking, Lindts eyes widened in surprise before narrowing as she looked down at the dog. "Sit."

Angelica sat, her tail keeping in motion though and thumping against the floor. Lindt's eyes flicked up to me then back to Angelica and she reached into her pocket, pulling out a bone cookie which she gave to Angelica; who happily gobbled it up before going back to looking up at her master

We kept staring at each other until I sighed and looked over to Dad

"You ok there dad?"

Taking a pull from his beer, he reached up to touch his chin with his other hand. He glanced to Lindt, "She hits like a girl." He touched at his jaw again and winced, "Although, she could probably teach the guys a thing or two."

Not taking her eyes off me Lindt just grunted.

We stared at each other a little longer without anything happening and I was quickly tiring of it. "Ok. Dad, the meatloaf smells about ready, you mind getting it out of the oven while I talk to…" I raised my eyebrows at Lindt.

"...Rachel," she muttered after a staring at me for a moment.

"While I talk to Rachel. Alright?"

"Its already out. Finished up just a bit ago actually, when the timer went off she just had the dogs stand guard while I got it out."

"Then how about setting the table."

Frowning, he looked between Lindt and I; and though he lingered more on her than I, the guarded concern was easily recognizable. "...Yeah, I can do that." He said that, but he didn't move except for a pointed look between Rachel and the dogs.

I cleared my throat, making Rachel blink and nodded to the dogs and Dad.

"Judas." She said, still not looking away. "Gaurd."

Looking to the German Shepherd, Dad rose from his chair and headed to the kitchen; the sounds of dishes and silverware soon echoing down the hall.

Without saying a word I walked into the living room and fell onto the couch, and after looking after me Rachel followed; sitting down in Dad's vacated chair. Brutus smiled a happy dog smile and leaned up against Rachel's leg while Angelica settled into the spot Judas had been positioned at.

"So you found me," I said, feeling _NERVES OF STEEL_ rising to the top of my selection and I ACTIVATED it, reinforcing the strength behind my words. " _How_."

Rachel sat up a little straighter. "Judas, he has a good nose."

I nodded. So my- no, Angelicas scent had been what did it. When I took her out for a walk maybe… yeah that made sense, I'd been out for a while after all. "I suppose that at least now I won't' have to track you down in order to return her to you." I nodded to Angelica.

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't attacked us."

"That's true." I admitted.

"...Why?"

"Pardon?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Rachel's eyes narrowed at me and, as if- or most likely likely -sensing his master's anger, Brutus started growling; his hackles rising up a bit to show his teeth. I shifted my attention from Rachel to the dog; and with a deft shuffling of my selections I pulled out and ACTIVATED _INTENT_.

The rottweiler's growling cut off in an instant and his ears went back flat against his head while its eyes widened to show the whites. That had been expected, but what i hadn't expected was to get a response from Rachel. Her shoulders stiffened and pulled back, her eyes eyes widening a bit. The shift in posture, it was almost the same as Brutus's; or at least it was until her eyes narrowed and she glared at me.

Taking it all in I just stared back, meeting her glare with my own neutral stare and waited; the air growing charged. But eventually she blinked and reached out to place a hand between Brutus's ears; which slowly rose back up.. Idly, I noted that the action seemed almost as comforting to her as it did the dog; and the tenseness in her shoulders drained away. "I meant," she swallowed, "why did you take care of Angelica."

"Would you have rather I let the P.R.T. have her? They would have likely just turned her over to a pound." I shook my head, "I've seen a few of the ones around town before and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Reaching out she gently pat the top of Angelica's head. "Thank you."

"And you're welcome, she behaved herself the entire time."

"But you wouldn't have needed to take care of her if you hadn't attack us."

And there was the backhand, I leaned forward and rest my elbows on my knees while keeping my eyes locked onto Rachels. "As I told TattleTale last night. It is beyond stupid of you to throw your lives away over something so stupid as going out in a blaze of glory- with an emphasis on the blaze part," I added. "It would have simply been a waste and a pointless exercise in futility.

"So," I continued after letting what I said sink in, "if I could stop you from doing as such in the future by beating all of you senseless then so be it."

"So we're too stupid and can't make the choice for ourselves," Rachel snarled out, her squarish face contorting into a scowl, "that's what you're saying! That we wouldn't _get_ a choice."

I shook my head, "No, choice is everything. It is what defines us, taking that away is something I would never do…" I tried a different tack, "But let me ask you this, if you saw one of your dogs doing something that it knew to be wrong- would you not try and keep it from doing so in the future when it may not be alive to do it again?"

"And you think that _beating us_ would have taught us a lesson." Her voice turned cold, "Well thats what Judas's old owner thought as well, until he beat him a little too hard and he bit back," she shook her head a little. "It doesn't just work like that."

Ah, yeah, thats certainly one way of thinking about it. I briefly looked down, my cheeks flushing a little. "The beating you guys part, that... well admittedly I was in a bit of a mood at the time- learning that you bunch left me to clean up your mess made me feeling somewhat... _exasperated_. I was really just going to subdue you so Assault and Battery could take you in."

She was quiet for some time, processing what I'd said I hoped. Then her brow furrowed, and her eyes narrowing Rachel slowly mouthed out 'exasperated.'

"It pretty much means upset, angry," I helped.

The confusion whisked away and was replaced by an irate glare. "Then you should have just said that," She bit out and her free hand tightened into a large fist.

I kept quiet as I waited for her to calm down a bit. What I had said had gotten through, I was sure of that. But something about her response to me telling her what exasperated meant. Pride, embarrassment… shame maybe?

It was certainly something that was just under the surface, that was pretty much a given considering how quickly she had gotten upset. And thinking back to her file I remembered a line about how her first confirmed kill had been while she was in her early teens; at the suspected time of her trigger event. And since then she had been on the streets, homeless, with her only companionship most likely coming from her dogs.

It dawned on me. Yeah, no wonder she had been worried about Angelica; she was probably family to her.

That explained that, but something still niggled at me. Exasperated wasn't something said commonly in casual conversation, sure, but it was still something most everyone should have been able to break down. It made me wonder what other parts of her education were lacking.

"Why are we even talking like this," she suddenly asked, suspicion coloring her voice and her eyes flicked away from me and to my right, to the front door. It was the look of someone that had been _hunted_ and _expected_ someone to barge in and come for her. I knew it, because I recognised it from when I'd worn it myself.

"We're _talking_ because believe it or not I want to help you, I want to help everyone so they don't _have_ to do the stupid things that will get you hurt." My hands clenched and unclenched, "And because the alternative to us talking is me making sure you can't tell anyone where I live." The butch girl across from me stilled. It was blunt, it was as subtle as a brick to the head and, as much as it scared me, it was the truth.

If I'd come home and dad had actually been hurt… well, she didn't have any special Brute rating as far as I knew and that meant she was just as squishy as any normal person. She probably wouldn't have survived it.

"Let me be perfectly clear so there is no ambiguity, you tracked me to my home broke in and attacked my family. That's a complete violation of the unwritten rules if there ever was one and _no one_ would have looked sideways at me dropping you off the top of a building or leaving you a bloody mess on the PRT's front stoop with an explanation note."

Cold, yes, but it seemed to do the trick and her eyes widened in surprise and comprehension. "But I'm not going to do that," I continued, "you were concerned for your family, and that kind of worry can color how you react."

I stood, and walking up to the girl she shrank back into the chairs cushion as I stopped over her. Brutus and Angelica were snarling at me, yes, but I ignored them and they didn't attack me. "But I don't want it to come to that." I held out my hand, "So instead, I'm going to invite you and your family to have dinner with my Dad and I."

I smiled, and it was among the still small but growing number of truly genuine ones I'd had since I became a parahuman. "Hi, my name is Taylor."


	13. Chapter 13

Having dinner with a Villain that had broken into your house and punched you out... well this was definitely going to be one to tell the grandkids.

Taking a bite of my meatloaf sandwich I hid my flinch by continuing to chew. But damn, did that girl have a right hook. Casually, I looked across the table to Taylor and the Villain, Rachel.

But looking at the two of them sitting on the other side of the table... I really couldn't see it. She was pretty rough and didn't look like much of a girl at all, sure; but then again some of the women that had worked down at the docks had been the same. And the way she acted really just didn't jibe, the E88 and Merchant gang tuffs that occasionally tried to shake down the Union seemed more Villainous than her.

If anything, it was Taylor that had seemed like the Villain; what she'd said to the other girl in the living room… I took another large bite of my sandwich. But that was part of her power wasn't it, to change herself in order to suit what she needed.

To make herself brave, charismatic, strong willed, quick witted, sympathetic, inspiring- the list went on and on from what she'd told me. But the only one she'd had activated that night had been Apathy.

 _ZERO FUCKS_ , she had called it, a bit of an odd name personally; but it was frighteningly appropriate, she'd just been so… _angry_ , and then there had been nothing. Not a spec of the palpable rage she had been putting off. And then she started talking, and talking, and talking, and _talking_ ; each word and sentence a horrible truth and accusation.

Assault had said, when he'd come back with her later that night, that people can change when they gain powers. He'd said that a Parahumans trigger event- the absolute breaking point a person has to go through in order to gain powers -can change them, and that taylor had gotten _lucky_ ; that she could turn her power induced neurosis on and off, and that most other Parahumans weren't even _aware_ whether they had changed or not.

Seeing pain in a man wasn't anything new, I saw it whenever a person I'd worked with for years told me they'd accepted work under a Villain or when they chose to get out of town. But what I'd seen in him at that moment had been something else entirely. Oh, he'd hidden it well, I'd give him that; but when someone talks about something so close to them it can remove the barriers you've put up, and briefly expose what you try and hide away.

I suppose I envied him for that, being able to bury your pain so deep that you could be a normal person. That had been just one more of my failings, after Annette… I hadn't even been able to bury it for Taylor's sake, If I had then… then I maybe none of the things she'd told me would have happened.

But I hadn't, I'd just let the pain of her death fester as an open sore, letting myself fall into a depression and throw myself into my work; to the detriment of everything else. And in just a few minutes Taylor had cut right to the heart of it and forced me to confront the pain or face losing even more.

"Dad."

Blinking, I swallowed; forcing the lump of food down and smiled. "Yeah Kiddo?"

"Moms old teaching materials, did we put them in the Attic or the basement?"

My heart clenched, like it was being squeezed in a vice as old memories of Annette studying to become a teacher rose up. She'd done it, and with the same bullheaded determination that I was starting to see in Taylor lately.

But I pushed them back, I couldn't lock up, wouldn't, not again. I'd already failed her too much. "Hm, I'm pretty sure we put most of that stuff in the basement since it was heavy."

Nodding sharply, Taylor pushed her chair back with a low squeal of wood on tile; a determined expression on her face as she left the kitchen.

And taylor may have changed, but she was my Daughter and I still loved her.

I finished up my sandwich in a few more bites while the echoes of heavy boxes banging around from the basement drifted into the Kitchen; and getting up I took my plate to the sink, turning on the faucet and about to put it under when I felt something nudge my leg.

Looking down I saw the German Shepherd… Judas, Rachel had called him, and Angelica. They and the Rottweiler had plowed through the food they'd been given, almost halving the bag of food Taylor had brought home. And now that wanted more. Of course.

Looking from the dogs to their master I grimaced. Feeding someone else's dog food off the table without there permission was one of those things that just wasnt kosher.

Somewhat nervously, I cleared my throat and Rachel turned her head to look at me. I held up the plate then pointed down at the dogs. Shaking her head she snapped her fingers and the dogs looked to her. "No."

Their heads ducking down, they plodded over to the corner of the kitchen and flopped down. The rottweiler, meanwhile, stayed layed down next to her chair.

I raised a brow as I turned back to the sink. She'd only had to say the one word, could definitely use dogs trained that well to guard the guys when we worked. Really use them, considering the Union had gotten the contract for the clean up work but the on site guys that had been finishing up evaluations of the area had said they'd seen some 'suspicious people' lurking around.

Definitely not good, and it had put something of a damper on the good news.

A sharp- " _BANG_!" -cut the train of thought and made me spin around, my hand instinctively reaching for a knife in the sink but it was taylor; somewhat dusty with a pile of books and writing materials now on the table.

Slipping one of the books from the stack she pulled out her chair and scooched closer to Rachel, shifting the book so it was between them and opening to an early page.

Turning back around I grabbed the oven pan and set it into the sink, sprayed a bit of water in it and began scrubbing; while at the same time listening in on the other the two girls. Sorting things out in the sink, I left the pan to soak and grabbed up a towel to dry my hands.

I did a little more general tidying up around the kitchen, all the while sneaking glances toward the table; only stopping to actually watch once I'd finished and I was sure they were too engrossed in it to notice. The smile naturally came to me after less than a minute.

My daughter, the Hero. Teaching a Villain; and from the sounds of it, said Villain wasn't really being given a choice in the matter… I had bite my lip in order to hold back a chuckle as Taylor grabbed a pencil and pad of paper off her pile and slapped them down in front of the other girl.

Yeah, watching her like this, there was definitely a lot of her mother in her; she even had the same look in her eye that Annette would get when she decided to take up something. And really, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the girl, Rachel. She wouldn't even know what hit her.

Leaving them to it, I made my way out of the kitchen I crept down into the basement, stepping over the creaky steps and heading over to a shelf covered in a thick layer of dust. Slowly, carefully, I pulled a similarly dust covered tub and carried it over to the cheap, and somewhat rickety, workbench built up against the wall; flipping on light bar mounted to the wall as I sat.

Miraculously, it turned on, and popping the lid I picked up the first framed photo. My eyes warmed as I stared down at the grinning woman stared back.


	14. Chapter 14

With a tired grunt, I fell into my usual seat at the kitchen table and laid my cheek on the back of my hands as I looked out through the back sliders doors. Last night had been… tiring.

Teaching Rachel had been an effort in frustration, but also, satisfaction. Once she had stopped being pig headed and stubborn about things she had taken to things well enough for me to test her. Although once I'd pushed the matter she'd become rather… subdued, something to look into I suppose.

Letting out a long, tired sigh I suddenly perked up as the tantalizing smell of sugar was filling my nose and a plate was set down in front of me. Blinking, I slowly raised my head to look down at a tower of golden pancakes dripping with syrup.

Dad had been at the stove and I thought something had smelt familiar, but I hadn't realized- another, smaller, plate was set down next to it. Sausage, Eggs and Bacon.

Looking over the spread I saw it was a _bit_ much. But, as my mouth began to salivate I swapped out one of my selection for _THE GLUTTON_ and ACTIVATED it; there, now I should be able to eat all of it no problem. "Is there a special occasion?"

"Maybe," he answered as he set out a pair of empty glasses and jugs of milk and orange juice before sitting down on the other side of the square table with his own plate; a concerned frown on his lips.

"Well," I prompted as he cut into his pancakes. Sighing, he carefully put his knives down. Bad news maybe? Then the pancakes were to… ah, he thought I might get upset.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, I didn't want to interrupt you, but the school called again. They asked if I would be able to come in with you."

"Oh. That's ok." I gestured to the spread, "I'm not angry or anything but I appreciate it. We haven't had pancakes in a while."

Relief washed away the concern and Dad smiled, "Oh, that's good. I was somewhat afraid- what you said about when she called you in on monday."

I shrugged, and stabbing a forkful of pancake I shoved it into my mouth, "Ish 'ine-"

"Manners Taylor."

Swallowing, I finished. "Its fine, Monday was my bad. I don't think she, or for that matter, would be dumb enough to try anything after I told them about the Journal. Did they say what it was about?"

"No, it was the secretary that called."

At that a sour taste filled my mouth but another forkful of delicious sugary pancake washed it away. Reaching out, I grabbed the syrup as I chewed and squeezed a generous helping onto my pancakes. "Well I guess we'll see when we get there I guess."

Nodding, dad opened his mouth to say something but closed it and raised an eyebrow as I picked up a sausage and smothered it in the syrup on my pancakes. I looked down, blinking until I saw what I was doing.

Oh. So _THE GLUTTON_ had some side effects after all, surprise surprise. I took another bite of syrupy sausage, still, this was actually pretty good.

+X+X+X+X+

I stared at the Secretary on the other side of the waiting room, my face blank and expressionless; thank you _NERVES OF STEEL_. I didn't blink, I didn't look away, I didn't say anything. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair she looked up to see me staring at her; just as I'd been for the last few times she'd looked up.

Quite honestly, I was tempted to ACTIVATE _INTENT_ to see what kind of effect that would have on her but I held off. Just staring at her seemed effective enough to make her uncomfortable. Bitch.

She glanced up again and this time I smiled. She looked away and I was beginning to wonder how long it would be until she said something or left; and I almost missed a new selection appearing in my mental rolodex when Blackwell's office door opened, the skinny blond woman herself standing in it. Although I did make a mental note to check on it later though.

" , Taylor." I shifted my attention to her as said my name, it _sounded_ like she wanted to say something else. "Please come in," and it also sounded like she wanted anything but.

Standing, I smiled and met Blackwells eyes. "Why thank you, I'll do just that." A muscle in her jaw twitched at my too-sweet voice, and as Dad stood up behind me I walked into the office to find ; sitting in a chair a little off to the side.

Dad suddenly clamped a hand on my shoulder, it was a little tight but it didn't do anything and he knew that.

"Alan," Dad said in way of greeting, his voice cold and professional. He didn't make to go over and shake his hand and Alan didn't stand.

The door closed behind us as we took our seats, "Thank you for taking time out of work and joining us today , with any hope this shouldn't take too long," Blackwell said as she shuffled around to sit behind her desk; folding her hands in front of her as she looked between Dad and I before settling on me. "Miss Hebert, It has become apparent that there is a problem with your continued education here at Winslow. As such-"

"Your expelling her!" Dad exclaimed, the armrests of his chair creaking under his hands and Alan shifted in his chair, sitting forward just a little; as if he'd been ready to get up and restrain him.

Looking to Dad Blackwell calmly held up a hand, "Please , may I continue?"

Breathing heavily through his nose for a few seconds dad eventually nodded, settling back into his chair as Blackwell looked to me, "As such, I have spoken with my counterpart at Arcadia High and Principal Howell agreed to take you on. You will be able to join the student body there by next monday if you so wish."

"That's-" I touched a hand to Dad's arm and glanced over to meet his eyes, he closed his mouth. Looking back to Blackwell again I reached into my selection and pulled _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ to the top; and ACTIVATING it I _looked_ at Blackwell. The selection hadn't been the most useful when it had first appeared, but since I'd last used it at school the day before I'd noticed it was _much_ more effective.

 _Tired- heavy makeup under the eyes, lack of sleep. Stressed._

"Right, and what about the last few times times I applied for a transfer. I'm pretty sure one of them went into the shredder and I checked, Arcadia had a waiting list a mile long…" I cocked my head a little, "You must really want me gone don't you?"

 _A muscle twitched in her neck and her hands tightened on each other- Anger, Frustration._ Oh yeah, she really wants me out of here.

"Yes, you are right that Arcadia has a lengthy waiting list. However," she gestured to Alan, " was kind enough to provide a donation and I was able plead your case and have you moved you up the listing."

I _looked_ to Alan. He hid it well, he was a Lawyer after all and he had to lie to a judge with a straight face all the time, but he was _tense_ ; weighted down by _guilt_ and _shame_.

"That's good news, and if Taylor does accept to be transferred?" Dad asked.

Taking things in stride Blackwell looked to Dad, I could give her that at least; she could keep her cool… well at least when she was prepared for it at any rate. "Then your daughter would go to Arcadia tomorrow, Friday and Saturday to take several assessment tests in order for her academic levels to be gauged and to determine where she will placed. Then, as I said, she will start on Monday."

"And what about the girls that were bothering Taylor?" He pressed and looked to Alan, his fingers tightened on the armrest. The other man had sense enough to look away.

"I am afraid there is little concrete evidence as to who has been bothering your daughter." Blackwell answered with a little shake of her head, "But if you do wish to press the issue you will need to speak with the district's legal representative. If that _is_ the case, however; then your daughter may not be eligible to transfer."

Translation: Get out and the trio gets off, or don't and it becomes a legal issue. But were they really ready for me to release my journal… probably not, but they didn't have many other options and were likely hoping I would just go. And it was most likely the best option I would be given. I sighed, "I'll take the transfer."

Dad shifted in his chair, "Are you sure kiddo?"

I grimaced, "Yeah. I couldn't care less about the girls anyway, they'll either learn otherwise by the time they graduate or they won't and do what they did to someone else who will actually retaliate." From the corner of my eye I saw stand and leave the room, the door hissing shut behind him as Blackwell nodded.

"Very well, in that case there are some forms that you will need to sign ." And with that she produced a manila folder

+X+X+X+X+

"Danny!" called as we walked through the front doors and out of Winslow- for what was hopefully the last time - but Dad just ignored him and we kept walking to the car. "Danny please!"

Dad whipped around as we reached the car, the footsteps of who'd been trailing after us the short distance coming to a halt. Smart, as Dad's expression had incrementally grown more and more angry as we'd walked.

Of course he'd known Dad when they were younger so of course he probably already knew how Dad could get. And he'd still come anyway.

"You've got an awful lot of nerve Allen." Dad snarled, his hands curling into fists as he shook his head. "Covering your ass by paying for taylor to transfer, I guess all those lawyer stereotypes I defended you from were true after all."

He stood his ground and didn't shy away from the accusation. "I didn't know what Emma was doing- I swear. And I paid to grease the wheels, yes, but I did that to try and pay you back for what-"

"So you think throwing money at the problem will fix it!" Shaking his head he turned away from the other man, "Get in the car Taylor." He stalked to the drivers side but held off from getting in and looking at , "I don't know what made Emma how she is but I would suggest you take her to a psychologist, before she does something."

He seemed to shrink in on himself a little, showing more than he had in the office or when dad had yelled at him.

 _Sadness, Shame._

"I already put a call in." He opened his mouth, but hesitated and looked down for a moment before meeting my eyes. "And for what it's worth I'm sorry for what he put you through."

"What's done is done. Emma doesn't really mean anything to me anymore, I actually rather pity her that she has to go to such lengths to make herself feel good." I sighed and shook my head, "But that's something for her shrink to talk to her about. Have a good day ."

Opening the car door I slid onto the old sedans somewhat threadbare seats and Dad pulled out as I buckled up; and glance at the mirror showed still standing in the parking lot.

We drove a bit before I broke the angry tension induced silence Dad had been putting off. "He was telling the truth, about not knowing… And at least he felt guilty enough that he payed to get me into Arcadia, if that helps any."

Sighing, Dad slumped in his seat, the anger fading a bit and he rubbed at his forehead as we rolled to a stop at a red light. "It does, but he still should have known..." He trailed off, looking straight out the window but the _Shame_ was clearly visible to me when I _looked_.

"Yeah, but look on the bright side. I'll be attending Arcadia by Monday. Better lunches, better computer lab, better principal, no more half broken bathrooms, no more gang fights or gang graffiti."

Dad hm'd, but he didn't seem to get any better when I _looked_ at him; and the next few minutes passed in silence as I wracked my brain trying to come up with something to say until a Staples cargo truck drove by.

"Oh!," I exclaimed, and Dad jumped a little in his seat; oops. "Can we make a stop at the pet store and Staples? I wanted to I wanted to pick up something from the pet store since Rachel agreed to come by again tonight and I'm going to need some stuff so I can review for the assessment tests."

"Uh, yeah. That shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure I know how much I have on me but we can pick some stuff up."

I waved off his concern with a dismissive wave of my hand, "I have it covered, the money Tattletale gave me remember."

Dad cringed a little, "Are you sure you want to use that, you don't know where it came from."

I shrugged, "It probably came from Lung, he was the last person the Undersiders hit before I met them."

That didn't seemed to make him feel any better but he rolled with it. Although it reminded me what was being said on my coming out thread and decided to go patrolling again. The ABB members had been scarce and the E88 thugs had kept to their turf but it was probably only a matter of time.

"I see," he said with a frown, "and was there anywhere else you wanted to go?"

I thought about it, but shook my head, "There's a few other things but I there on the opposite end of the city so I'll just wait."

"Ok… how about you tell me how your first night of teaching went then, it didn't seem like you were giving her much choice when I left you to it."

I felt my cheeks warm a bit, but I ignored it. "She's stubborn… and for the rest of the ride I told him about how my night had gone with Rachel and afterward. And taking a _look_ at him I was happy to the _Shame_ faded away and mostly replaced with… _Pride_?

With a tired grunt, I fell into my usual seat at the kitchen table and laid my cheek on the back of my hands as I looked out through the back sliders doors. Last night had been… tiring.


	15. Chapter 15

Teaching Rachel was… complicated, or at least it was at first. She was stubborn but once she got settled in and concentrated on what she was supposed to be working on- neater writing that couldn't be mistaken for chicken scratch -tonight, she showed she had a real capacity to learn. And, as it turned out, she was actually rather knowledgeable in some areas; as she'd proven when I'd pulled out my textbooks and started to review for the sciences.

Biology, as it turned out.

She'd been working through her fourth page of writing out the alphabet on kids trainer paper that I'd picked up at Staples when she stopped and pointed out that I was doing something wrong. Somewhat startled, I stopped and rechecked over what she had pointed at. She was right.

Cocking my head, I looked from the the book to Rachel. "How'd you know?"

Grunting, she finished off the last line on the page she was working on before putting her fingers to her lips and whistling twice; two sharp, high pitched sounds. Not a moment later Brutus, Judas and Angelica came plodding into the living room from the kitchen; where they'd been enjoying the cool tile.

Turning to meet my eyes she nodded to them, something I'd noticed just a few hours before that she tended to avoid. "I have to be able to see if any of the dogs I take in at my shelter are sick or unhealthy. When I first got Brutus he was sick, so I went to a veterinary clinic and got some of the people there to… help me. After that some of the people at the shelters I visit taught me some more." She growled, low, and it was almost like a dog's growl but stopped when Angelica whimpered a little.

She shook her head, "They're not supposed to, and I've warned them, but sometimes they don't treat the dogs right and I have to know if I need use my power on them. Doing that usually takes care of things."

"Usually?" I nudged, trying to get her to talk and be a bit more open. It was slow going, but more moments like this would definitely help.

She shrugged, although it seemed a little forced and she reached into her jacket pocket to pull out a bone cookie, breaking it into thirds and giving them to the dogs; starting with Brutus, then Judas then Angelica. "If their hurt before I get them, like Angelica, then there isn't anything I can do. Tattletale said it was like a blueprint, or something. All I know is that it takes care of illnesses and fresh wounds, but nothing old… or anything they're born with."

"That... kinda makes sense, unless your power knew what the dog was like before then it wouldn't know what to work with." She just shrugged again, and grabbing another piece of practice paper she began filling it out in silence.

Watching her for a moment, I thought back to Angelica's torn ear and missing eye. Rachel's base power may not have been able to heal it… but what about if it was boosted with with _SIDEKICK_ ,or perhaps _SYNCHRONIZATION_ with her and her dogs while they are empowered.

Mulling that over in the back of my mind, I picked up my pen and looked back to my science textbook; but after only a few minutes I decided otherwise, I'd been studying pretty much all day and it was time for another break. So reaching out, I grabbed the practice papers Rachel had already gone through; and with a click of my pen began marking out some letter corrections and suggestions.

+X+X+X+X+

Waving into the night, I closed the door once Rachel passed from view and twisted; making my back emit several loud popping noises, and I let out a sigh of relief as the tension in my back let up a bit. I'd forgotten what being being hunched over could do to you. Yeesh.

Locking the door, I went back to the living room and began packing up all the study materials I'd pulled out; my textbooks for my review, Mom's old things for beginning english learners, and the numerous pieces of paper scattered about. Many of which had been crumpled up into tight balls by Rachel when we had started on sentences; she still had a _long_ ways to go with writing legibly but it was my hope that by writing out whole sentences it would help speed things up.

Gathering everything up in a loose crate I'd grabbed up from the basement, I hauled it upstairs and dropped it just inside my door. For a second, I looked longingly at my bed; its comfortable pillows and comforters that just begged to be laid upon. But, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't; and with a reshuffling of my selection I ACTIVATED _THE SLEEPLESS_ before making for my desk.

The selection was dead useful but the backlash it caused when I DEACTIVATED it wasn't inconsiderable. In fact, it pretty much knocked me out depending on how long it had been running; but then again, something like peak waking mental capacity twentyfourseven wasn't something the brain was really built for. It made going to sleep easy though, so there was that.

Falling into my desk chair I opened the cheap laptop I'd decided to splurge on while at staples. It wouldn't do too much, but what it could do what was pretty much all I'd wanted it for. Dad had argued against it, but I'd won out in the end.

And besides, it was convenient.

Swiping at the touch pad, I opening a browser window and brought up a maps website to plan out a patrol route in one tab while connecting to the PHO on another. Absently, I noticed I had a conversation request in my inbox; hovering the mouse over it, I saw it was only an hour or so old. "Huh."

I clicked on it. 

**Private message from Enemy Mine:**

 **Enemy Mine:**

 _I may have some info on a possible E88 and ABB clash going down tonight._

 _Interested?_

Eyes narrowing in suspicion I clicked on Enemy Mine's stock profile pic and there profile card popped up; zero likes and one message. I checked the date, it was made yesterday… So someone made a profile just to send me a message. _Oh no_ , that wasn't suspicious at all.

Shaking my head, I clicked back to the map and began marking out my route. Like the night before, it would take me through Empire and Azn Bad Boyz turf; but that was rather the point. Sure, I hadn't exactly encountered any fights, drug dealers or anything really; but just being out there was what counted.

My eyes flicked to the P.H.O. tab; and one wary sigh later I was opening a conversation and tapping out a quick response to Enemy Mine. 

**Indominus:**

 _So, how do I know this isn't some trap?_

There, I swiped my fingers back over the trackpad to click on the map tab when P.H.O.'s Message Alert bar popped up. I raised an eyebrow incredulously, "Already?" Clicking on the alert bar revealed a response from Enemy Mine.

 **Enemy Mine:**

 _You don't, but are you really worried about that? You were able to tank Lung for... what? Ten, Fifteen minutes?_

 **Indominus:**

 _Thats not exactly the point._

 **Enemy Mine:**

 _No, not really. But I think you're going to go out tonight anyway so here._

 _Location of Storehouse_

 _The place the E88 is planning to his is a short term ABB storehouse. Drugs, guns, cash, etc. Whatever they're moving around ATM. The place is pretty much publicly known but deep enough in their turf that no one was willing to do anything about it. Now on the other hand… Well its on the edge of ABB turf and with it out it would give them a foothold._

 _Not sure about ABB, but the E88 definitely got some new hardware in recently. Assault rifles and some higher caliber weapons. Not all has made it into circulation and I'm pretty sure most of its still waiting to be distributed._

Frowning, I clicked on the link and it opened up a link to a map website; the place wasn't too far off the patrol route I'd drawn out along. Gnawing at the corner of my lip I sent back another message asking where Enemy Mine got this info; but, after waiting for several minutes with no response I conceded that I probably wouldn't get an answer.

Leaning back, I slowly rotated my chair so I was looking at my closet; a particular shirt immediately catching my eye.

After staring at the lurid, colored stripes I sighed. "Oh to hell with it," and pushed myself out of my chair, pulling off my shirt and throwing it into the hamper as I headed to the closet. And hey, the spot Enemy Mine said the fight would go down was on the way anyway so it wasn't as if it I was going out of my way or anything.

+X+X+X+X+

"Well, I'll be damned," staring down at the street from the top of a factories crumbling chimney I watched as three nondescript, white cargo truck met at an intersection down the road and turned onto the street I was on. The same street, that had the ABB storehouse Enemy Mine had mentioned.

It hadn't exactly been hard to find, what with the guards and watchers that were posted on its rooftop and along the street... and the fact it was the only building with lights on. And, as I turned my gaze from the trucks to the storehouse I saw one of the men on the rooftop run toward the roof access and disappear into the building.

"Showtime."

Tensing, I waited for a bit longer for the trucks to pull up and a small hoard of men spilled out from within them; and from the way they were moving it looked they all had some sort of weapon. A gun or otherwise; although, a good number of them also had large rectangular things with them… I squinted, shields? They were definitely coming prepared.

Nothing that looked like any of the Empires capes though; and considering it, I decided to hold off just a bit longer. Just in case they were waiting for things to start.

Then suddenly and as one, several groups of people in the red and green of the ABB emerged from the buildings on both sides of the E88 group to surround them. It _looked_ impressive, surrounding the Neo-Nazi's like that; but from my overlooking position I could only shake my head at the action. If the Neo-Nazi's really had automatic guns then it would be easy for them to mow down the Asian gang members; and even if the ABB had guns of there own they risked shooting their own men.

Fortunately though for both sides though no one had opened fire, yet; although several had taken cover around the trucks and the ones with the riot shields took up defensive positions in front of the other Neo-Nazi's .

After several tense moments of shouting one of the E88 thugs broke off from the crowd- this one noticeably larger than the others -and walked into the open with a visible swagger; several of the other men moving along with him, but they were more spread out and from the way they had their arms out it _definitely_ looked like they were holding long guns.

The assault rifles Enemy Mine had mentioned most likely.

He stopped, standing there in the open and after a few seconds one of the ABB's number broke off and approached the E88 member; although he still maintained his distance and several of his people moved in a similar way to the Empire members with the guns.

They stood there, talking I assumed, when the Empire member gestured to the Storehouse and one of them started shouting.

"And that'd be my cue." With a second check of my selection and what I had ACTIVATED, I stood and shifted my feet to a more balanced stance. Or at least as much as I could considering I was standing on the edge of a chimney. But no matter, it was enough and I shifted my grip on my weapon- in a long hafted, large bladed lance form tonight -reared my arm back, aimed, and threw.

The length of black metal split there air as it shot toward the earth below with a deafening crack of splitting air. Then it hit home, piercing the engine compartment of one of the cargo trucks and buckling it; the force of the impact being enough to even make the entire back end lift off the ground momentarily.

 _Stepping_ down to the street took less than a second, and reaching out I casually tore my lance from the ruined vehicle. A little dust drifted off the large blade on the other end and I absently spun it with one hand as I turned to face the assembled gang members before casually resting it on my shoulder.

"So, this looks interesting." I said amicably.

For a moment, I wasn't sure if they were in shock at my sudden wrecking of the truck and appearance, or the shirt I'd chosen. I mean, I _had_ chosen it since it was possibly the most insulting one I had after all.

Originally, it had been an idea for a gag to try and get a reaction out of Emma and her groupies. A reaction, which I would have then torn to shreds with _BREAK THEM BY TALKING_.

I'd discarded the idea after actually thinking it over of course, but I'd still had the shirt. And really, choosing a rainbow colored shirt with Gay Pride emblazoned in pink on the chest just seemed a little too perfect to pass up on using when going after Nazis; amazing though, the kind of things you could find in thrift stores.

But then one of them raised his his gun, a rifle, an… AK Fourty something, I couldn't remember. It was Russian though, I knew that. And idly, I wondered if they even knew what a contradiction it was that they- as Neo-Nazi's -were using a Communist Block made weapon… Considering their life choices though, I somewhat doubted it.

The guy let rip on full auto, the echoing reports of the gun firing piercing through the night as he loosed an entire clip into me… well, into my sword; which I'd shifted from it's lance form in an instant. No need to let them just _shoot me_ after all, sure I had _INVINCIBLE HERO_ ACTIVATED but it was the principal of the matter.

Although in retrospect it probably would have looked pretty intimidating if I'd just stood there and let bullets bounce off.

When the gun stopped firing I lifted my sword onto my shoulder and shifted it into its comical Pole Hammer form. "You know," I drawled as the assorted thugs stared at me, probably unsure of what to do.

"I _was_ just going to try and scare you all off and shut down this here storehouse myself." A complete lie of course, but they didn't need to know that so I shook my head and clicked my tongue, "But now, now I'm going to beat the crap out of all of you."

With an ease that was become more and more practiced as I did it on the fly, I shuffled _LETHALITY MODULATION_ higher up into my selection to give it a bit more priority and triple checked that it was ACTIVATED. I didn't necessarily _want_ to kill them after all, just... damage them. However, if even some of the rumors concerning the Empire's initiation ceremonies were true then they probably deserved it. But that was a slippery slope.

"So!" I called out in my not-quite-sane-and-too-happy voice that made Assault get a little twitchy, "Who wants some broken limbs!" My too large mouth split, my lips turning up into my Mad Girl Grin[™], and almost as one the assembled thugs took a step back.


	16. Chapter 16

This thing was a bit of a pain and just didnt want to be written. But I started another fic so time not wasted at least.

* * *

Most all of the gangbangers had taken a _big_ step back, asian and white supremacist alike. A few however stood their ground; raising guns, bats and pipes alike.

I lowered my head a bit to look at them from under my eyebrows, oh yeah, they would have to go first. Slowly, I panned back and forth across the people before me until I settled on the large E88 thug that had been talking to the ABB member; who I now saw wasn't quite large persay, but instead just armored with military looking body armor.

Raising my free hand I pointed at him. "You first," and with that everyone stepped back to clear a space around the man. The man however, just smirked.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I took my hammer off my shoulder and waggled it at him; kinda like how a someone might with a _regular_ hammer. Oh, how I loved my power sometimes. "And what do you think is so funny ey?"

"Just a stupid dike." I frowned at his nonchalantness but even as I put one foot forward, grabbed the haft of my hammer with my free hand and swung back he had put a hand to the side of his head. "Yeah, boss. A little help here?"

Boss… could there have been an E88 cape- and just as my foot touched the ground my head was snapped violently to the side; an echoing report rang out over the street a second later.

Slowly, letting my hammers head fall to the ground, I reached up to the side of my head and grabbed at the spot the impact had been centered on; and coming back with a crumpled lump of metal that had gotten caught in my hair. A bullet. A big bullet. A VERY big bullet.

Tilting my head back to it was straight, I stared down at the lump of slightly warm metal resting in my palm; and as I did so my aviators slid off and fell to the ground with a clack, one of the arms broken off.

Breath in, I slowly closed my fist around the bullet. Breath out, I shoved the bullet into my cargo pants pocket.

Breath in, I bent down to pick up my sunglasses. Breath out, I put them into my pocket as well.

Standing back up I stared at the body armored Neo-Nazi, who'd finally taken a step back. Meeting his eyes I slowly shook my head. "That _really_ wasn't a good idea," with a single _step_ I crossed half the street and was standing to the left of the armored Nazi. "And I'm not a Dike you dick, its just a shirt."

And with that I snapped my foot out; smashing my heel into the side of the man's knee as he turned to me, it made a wet cracking noise and then it _bent_. He let out a gurgling scream as he fell to the ground but I tuned it out. "Now you stay put for a bit, I'd like to have a word with you about how you should talk to a girl."

Another heavy impact slammed into my bicep but expecting it this time the blow barely phased me and I now knew it came from just down the street. Slowly, I turned my head to look toward a warehouse that was at the end of the street. My lips spread, splitting into my Mad Girl Grin[™] even as rapid fire gunshots rang out on the street and I felt dozens of hammer strikes hit my stomach and back.

I _stepped_.

+X+X+X+X+

"Damn, mid tier brute." I muttered, and grimaced- while at the same time somewhat admiring -the precision brutality I was watching go down through the highly magnified zoom of my scope. I touched at my earpiece, "StormTiger-"

" _Already on my way._ "

"Good, but keep your distance and stay moving." I watched as the girl in question suddenly appeared next to a chink and slammed a palm into his chest then proceed to appear across the street in flashes and strike out at another half dozen men, "From the looks of it she has short range, near instantaneous movement. However it seems like she has to stop in order to engage."

" _Fuck… so treat her like roided out Oni Lee then, understood… and what about you boys?_ "

That was a question…

" _Victor?_ "

"I'd rather the time I put into them not have been put to waste."

Enough said, I took my finger away from my ear and ejected the magazine from my rifle, deftly catching it and dropping it into a bag at my side before reaching into the same bag and pulling out another. Sliding it home into the reciever, I racked the slide twice; ejecting the useless round and letting a round from the new magazine rise into the chamber.

Curling my hand back around the grip I put my finger back on the trigger and pulled back; putting exactly four point three pounds of pressure on the mechanism, leaving only point two percent left for the bolt to hammer home. I drew in a slow breath and centered my crosshairs onto the center of the street, while at the same time keeping my eye trained on the lurid stripes of Indominus shirt.

Now, all there was left to do was wait.

And then, I shall see just how thick your skin is girl.

+X+X+X+X+

 _Stepping_ in front of a _literal_ skinhead, I smacked his rifle down as he tried to bring it around on me but all he did was shoot into the street as well as his feet; if the brief scream of pain before I punched him in the face was any indication.

 _Stepping_ back to my hammer, It's haft sticking up into the air I once again shifted it from from its hammer form and into its sword form; and with several dozen rapid fire _steps_ I cut in half all the guns that littered the ground.

I turned my attention to the much lower number still standing ABB and E88 thugs; _they_ were the ones that hadn't had guns. Flipping my sword around to the tip was to the ground, I held it close to my side; still somewhat leery of the sniper as I stared at each of the thugs in turn.

A single impact and reverberation accompanied by dull _thud_ that was followed up by an echoing report a moment later reminded me that my caution had at least some merit. The nonchalant way I ignored it probably made for a pretty intimidating sight as well.

"Im going to say this once!" I slowly panned my gaze across the thugs, "I will remember _you_!" I announced, and took a few steps forward as my voice echoed between the buildings on either side of the street. "I will remember your faces! I will remember how you _walk_ , how you _talk_ and whose side you are on. I tell you this, because if I see you in this city again. Then I will not hesitate to do upon you twice to what I did to your compatriots!"

I looked over them once more, "You are not welcome here… Do you understand!"

"Heh, that's an awfully nice speech you got there girly." The voice whispered in my ear shook me and I spun on my heel, slashing my blade through the air behind me only for it to cut through empty air. Then there was a blast to my mid section and I was flying through the air.

Scowling, swung my blade down into the street as an anchor; my feet touching back down onto the ground I snapped my gaze to the shirtless, tiger masked man as he rose out of a crouch. I recognised him from my brief trawl of the E88's know roster on the PHO before I'd headed out; Stormtiger, an aerokinetic that could create explosive blasts of compressed air from claws.

Such as the ones he was reforming over his hands.

Swapping my blade to my left hand I brought it up to cover my side; and not a moment too soon, as not a second after I did so there was a reverberating thump and another echoing report.

"You beat these boys up pretty good, dintchya' girly," the man rolled his shoulders before bounced up on his feet, like a boxer, I vaguely recognised and a detached part of me noted that were taped at the ankles.

"You better listen good boys!" The man shouted through his mask, "Vicky ain't too happy with ya'll getting beat by a lil girl, so you better get a move on for' you get caught in the Storm!"

Behind me, I hear people scrambling, people moaning and people groaning as they fled the area with the wounded. I kept my eyes on the cape before me. Well, my physical eyes at least.

On the inside I could only watch in frustration as one of my selections shot out of my rolodex and into the slot that had appeared when Stormtiger had made his presence known.

And to make matters worse it was blacked out. Wonderful.


	17. Chapter 17

The pavement buckled under my feet as I _stepped_ , and as I reappeared barely a foot in front of Stormtiger I punched out in a lightning quick jab to the man's diaphragm.

Then a wall of pressure slammed into me, blasting me off my feet and sending me flying back until I hit something solid that gave way beneath me with a screech of shearing metal.

Staring back to where I had been only moments earlier I blinked as the ground tilted and the buildings swayed. My head rang, a high pitched hum that bounced around and all through my brain.

I coughed and my ears popped, _painfully_ , but it brought the street back into view. I narrowed my eyes at Stormtiger as he laughed a full bellied laugh, "Is that it girl?! I've been hit by featherweights that had more kick than you."

Scowling, I glanced down at my sword where it rested in the middle of the street. Damnit, and I hadn't even felt letting go of it… But then again I hadn't been hit like that before, not even when Lung got in a clean hit or when Assault was helping me test my durability.

"I'll show you a featherweight you fuck," I growled out through clenched teeth, and with a _step_ I extricated myself from the buckled engine of the cargo truck, then with two more I came at Stormtiger from his right.

Then I juked, stepping twice more and came in from the other side to smash my fist into the jaw of his tiger mask with a clean cross that would shut him up.

But he was gone, and before I could _step_ away I was suddenly hit with another wall of pressure. But this time I had a solid stance and lashed out, blindly swinging my blade at where I felt the blow come from; feeling it encounter a slight resistance for a brief moment then I was smashed face first into the pavement.

Grunting, I put my hands to my sides when I saw the dust on the ground pull toward my feet; while simultaneously, I felt my hair pull back as if in a breeze.

Alarm bells went off in my head, and letting go of my swords ring I pushed myself up; throwing myself into the air and for a brief second I saw the hand imprints I'd left in the street be _disintegrated_ by a blast of compressed air that carved long, looping gouges into the pavement surrounding where it had struck.

Reaching out as if I were doing a pushup I threw myself into the air once again. Only this time I flipped backward as Stormtiger appeared at the edge of my vision and lashed out with his claws of compressed air; rending long and very deep gashes in the street.

Gently touched down atop a light pole, I stared down at Stormtiger as he stood; quietly chuckling. I glanced at the street around him, at the damage he'd done.

It was _much_ more than what I'd read him capable of on his profile page.

Letting out a slow breath I centered myself and coiled myself tight, readying myself to move when he struck.

Sometimes, I really hated my power.

Because really, what was the point of empowering someone who was trying to kill you. Sheer madness.

+X+X+X+X+

I really couldn't help it, the quiet chuckle that slipped out between my lips and quickly escalated into a full bellied laugh as I stared down at the devastated pavement. As I stared down at the effects of my attack.

I felt so… _good_ \- so light on my feet.

It hadn't felt this good even right after my trigger and I'd spread that nigger across the ring.

It hadn't felt this good when I got my first boost from Othala.

I hadn't felt this good _ever_.

Standing in an instant, I spun and slashed a hand at the little pest looking down on me in one fluid motion. A razor thin blade of air sped through the air toward the light pole the girl was standing on and cutting through it then carrying on into the slants safe house.

The pole shifted, separating where my blade of air had cut through and as the girl- Indominus -lost her footing and began to fall,I followed up with enough slashes to fill the airspace with an unavoidable wall of death.

+X+X+X+X+

As my perch shifted and I fell, I began to strongly suspect I was in trouble.

My power, for whatever reason, was almost _certainly_ boosting Stormtiger far beyond what he had been recorded as ever being capable of.

The wall of razor edged blades of compressed wind about to hit me were only more evidence of that.

Quickly, my breathing began to encompass my reality and the world slowed as _TICK TOCK_ rose to the top of my selection and ACTIVATED.

I scanned the slowed scene that was before me. Analysing everything- _looking_ , for anything that I could use as a touching off point.

The light pole was a no go, it was just out of reach and the section falling with me wouldn't work much better as I visualized the angles I could launch myself at… Then I stared at the blades of air coming at me as I realized I had all I needed.

My lips slowly turned upward in my Mad Girl Grin[™] in time with the air blades approach. The blades, that were composed of _compressed air_.

I watched as the blades pushed _aside_ the dust particles in the air from the first slash that had hit the ABB safehouse. The blades of air, which molecules were compressed enough to form a _solid_ edge.

I leaned back, perfectly lining myself up with the blades. And then the world accelerated and the razor edge was cutting into my shoe.

Then I _stepped_ , first I touched down on the side of the ABB safehouse and a moment later I was across the street and _stepping_ off the side of the opposing building to the street below like a pinball.

I paused as I touched down, but only for the barest of moments, only enough to stoop down and slip my left arm through the straps and grab a hold of the metal handhold with my right.

Then I _stepped_ again, and this time my touchdown point wasn't in front of him. No, it was _behind_ him.

I hit Stormtiger like a freight train plowing into a car stuck on the tracks, my pilfered shield out in front of me as a battering ram. And as I stopped at my touch down point he flew, smashing a hole in the side of the safehouse.

My Mad Girl Grin[™] was now in full effect as a previously blacked out selection slid from its place in my mental rolodex and inserted itself into my active selection; ACTIVATING, just as it locked into place.

I briefly considered it as the metal of the shield began to shift and change into something so much stronger, the clear viewing window melting into nothing and absorbing into the rest of it as metal filled in where it had once been.

 _WITH THIS SHIELD_ : Idly, I checked the selection, noting that it wasn't too dissimilar to _MULTI MELEE MASTER_.

Turning my attention back to reality however, I began to slowly advance on the hole in the ABB safehouse; listening for any sign of movement while keeping my new shield raised in order to bring it up at a moments notice.

My only warning was the a brief whistling and the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end that allowed me to bring my turn in time to catch the a hammer blow of the sniper's round hitting my shield.

Then there was another, and another, and another, and _another_. Gritting my teeth, I made to _step_ away when I was blindsided and slammed into the ground.

With how hard I was gritting my teeth, I would have thought I would have cracked a tooth as a hot lash ripping into my right arm and I bounced against the ground. Fucking cheap shotting Stormtiger, of course he and the sniper could communicate. That was just smart planning the E88 thugs had shown they'd had plenty of that.

Pushing myself up a bit, I coughed into the ground as my ribs burned in protest and my arm screamed at me. But as a pair of feet appeared at the edge of my vision I ignored that, throwing myself back and landing in a crouch as a blast of wind disintegrated the part of the street I'd just been on.

Looking up, I stared at Stormtiger as he slowly turned his head to look at me; his eyes dark and bloodshot behind his mask. And as he did, I saw a bit of red drip from the bottom of his mask; falling through the air and glinting under the light of the street lights.

It was red, dark red, and it never reached the pavement as a finger sized bullet intersected it before _slamming_ into my shoulder. _Hard_.

Biting down on my lower lip was the only way I could hold back a scream as a brief and sudden burning surged through my shoulder, it felt like I'd been punched. It felt like when I'd been punched from _before_.

The pavement _cratered_ just as I rolled to the side, barely avoiding another shot from the sniper. I threw myself up, rising to my feet with a little too much force and spinning a bit; but as I did so another bullet whizzed by; nearly an inch from my nose.

Going almost crosseyed, I heard an explosion and felt a burst of flame from my side. And an eye twitch showed me one of the transport trucks consumed in flame.

I _stepped_ , to my sword and brought it up to protect my flank from the sniper while I flicked my gaze across the street; looking for Stormtiger.

But he was nowhere to be found, and despite the flaming bonfire that was the truck lighting up the street I couldn't find him. He'd disappeared into the wind… No, he didn't.

I focused, listening to an almost unhearable crunching and closing my eyes I cocked my head to listen, focusing on the sound of the crunching sound but once I did I realized it was accompanied by the same hissing noise his airblades had made.

I spun around, looking toward the ABB safehouse and shifting my shield so that it now covered my flank from the sniper. I focused again on the sound but it was gone and I opened my eyes to look around the street.

Stormtiger was still close by, not only could I just _feel it_ but a quick check told me his slot was still active as well as the blacked out selection he'd gotten from my rolodex.

Licking my lips I slowly backed up, moving toward the center of the street; glancing down every few seconds and stopping once I was standing on the faded yellow lines that marked the center.

Waiting, I found, was not something I found particularly appealing.

I didn't have to wait long for something to happen though, as instead the action came to me at hypersonic speeds. Before I could react and even as the echoing report rang out down the street, half a dozen hammer blows slammed into my calf- the only place not covered by my shield -and I collapsed to the ground; the lower half of my leg on fire as it gave out from under me.

This time I couldn't hold back my scream and barely managed to stab my sword into the pavement to keep myself upright. Gasping, my eyes squeezed tight against the pain I only heard the explosion of compressed air in my peripheral.

Hearing a rumble, I forced open one eye before looking to the sound... and was greeted with the sight of the brick smoke stack I'd been perched on only minutes before filling my vision.

+X+X+X+X+

"Fucking hell," I muttered as the squad and I stared at the long pile of rubble that was strewn across the street, and that wasn't to mention the three wrecked transport trucks. "Well this is a goddamn mess. Whad'ya you think Captain, Oni Lee?"

Grunting, Captain Hariss just kicked a loose brick. "Don't think so, Lee was reported engaging with Hookwolf just a few minutes before we deployed- and that was over on Seventh and Kissinger."

Kneeling down, he picked up another piece of brick, this one a triangle with one perfectly smooth side. Tracing a gloved finger along the edge, he was silent before setting it aside and standing; his rifle held at the ready and his head slowly turning as he looked to the rooftops.

"Keep on your toes though, we don't know what did this and I'd rather we not get caught with our pants down. We got Protectorate reinforcements coming in five though so just hold till then, got it?"

Nodding, I raised my own rifle to the ready and began scanning the street for movement, wounded, something interesting, a teleporting cape that like to use suicide bomber tactics… anything really.

And as it happened, anything came in the form of a hand punching up through the rubble just a few feet from me like a goddamned zombie rising from its grave in the living dead.

I couldnt help it, I raised my rifle and fired; squeezing off a three round burst- none of which his the hand -before Captain Hariss was next to me and pushing my barrel toward a clear section of rubble. One hard slap upside my helmet and I regained my senses and took my finger off the trigger.

Catching my eye, Captain stepped away and raised his cupped left hand just over the top of his helmet; signaling the rest of the squad to cover him.

Only when the rest of the squad took up position did the Captain call to whoever the arm belonged to and ordered them to cease moving. Whoever the arm belonged to however _didn't_ , stop moving it. If anything they started moving more, sweeping away several small piles of bricks to the side.

Then the ruble started to shift, bulging upward and the Captain signalled to back up, and that's _exactly_ what we did; right up until we were taking over behind the the trucks and had our crosshairs centered right on where the arm was.

Off to the side, Captain was quietly speaking into the com while above I heard the low whine of motors turning that indicated the Containment foam Turrets were hot.

Then the rubble _exploded_ , debris were thrown skyward and dust filled the air.

"Hold fire!" Captain called, while his muttering into the com became even more urgent. And slowly, we watched as a shadowed form slowly rose up within the dust cloud.

She, He, It, whatever they were they didn't look human.

A long, hard angled protrusion extended from it and ended with a point while its main body was tall and… ovalish. Then the protrusion shifted, waggling back and forth and a quiet noise- aside from shifting rubble -sounded over the street and I heard the Captain say something about a potential Case 53 into the com.

I couldn't hear what Home Base told him, but I could only hope that help was on its way as the shadowed form suddenly shifted and a high pitched, rage filled scream echoed over the street.

Then the scream cut off in a fit of hacking coughs, the shadowed form doubling over and contorting before something came flying out of the dust. Doing its job perfectly, the foam turret whined as it tracked the object, but it didn't break the twenty meter perimeter that the guns auto setting ran on, so it didn't fire.

The now much smaller form let out several more hacking coughs and slowly I looked away from my crosshairs to whatever had come out of the dust to see… a shield?

Slowly, the form stumbled out of the dust.

Tall, long brown hair, cargo pants, basic military style boots and a lurid rainbow shirt emblazoned with a pink Gay Pride logo on its front. And that was partially hidden beneath a liberal coating of red dust and black soot that covered her form from head to toe.

Her, I knew, because I recognised the person as Indominus; the most recent topic of discussion in the office rumor mill and the one that had _single handedly_ thrown down with Lung before help from the Protectorate managed to take him down.

She let out another hacking cough, doubling over and using the ridiculous sword that some of the guys had been talking about as a crutch before looking to them.

"I-" She doubled over and this time it sounded like she was going to cough up a lung, "- I don't suppose you guys have a bottle of water I can borrow by chance?"

+X+X+X+X+

Frowning in consternation, I stared at the conversation participant box that showed only Enemy Mine. Then to the last reply from Indominus.

"Dammit," I muttered as I started using my power, "what the hell happened out there…"

Swiping, out of the tab; I quickly checked any recent threads that were created. But finding nothing I switched to my other sources. From there it didn't take me long to find to find the reason Indominus was most likely upset.

Scrolling back through the recently created file I skimmed the details, picking out important details and re-examining the pictures the cleanup crew had taken to document the scene.

Growling, I pushed away from the table and dragging my hands through my hair I leaned back to stare up at the ceiling. "And she probably thinks I set her up for it… fuck."

Groaning out the last word, I untangled my hands from my hair and pressed heel of my palms into my eyes. It had been a long shot to start with, trying to gain her trust by feeding her info on where there would be intense fighting... but damnit.

I sighed and let my arms go limp, letting my hands fall to my side and my finger tips touch the floor as I stared up at the ceiling, thinking.

Going through Rachel was an option. But even as I thought it I discarded it, doing that was likely to get myself a beating at best or given over to Brutus and Judas at worst… With how she had been acting though the reaction would _almost certainly_ be the former.

No thank you.

Grimacing, I huffed in resignation. So I'd have to do things the hard way then.

 _Lovely_.


	18. Chapter 18

I fell into the stiff plastic school chair as the teachers aid that was there to make sure I didn't cheat the evaluations and set a thick stack of papers in front of me. He gave me a sympathetic smile, most likely thinking I'd stayed up late studying or couldn't sleep because I was stressed about the tests.

Hah… I wish. _THE SLEEPLESS_ had taken care of putting me out quickly enough once I'd DEACTIVATED it, although surprisingly it's after effects had not been as bad as the last time I'd used it. Just something else to look into.

No, I was tired because I'd woken up for no reason whatsoever at three in the morning… after an hour or so of sleep. It had been the tossing and turning that I'd gone through for a while until I gave up on the concept of sleep all together and worked on a bunch of miscellaneous things to pass the time.

Sighing, I picked up one of the pencils that had been on the desk and flipped to the first page. Although another part of it could have been that I was subconsciously dreading the tediousness that was taking a long test.

Putting all that aside though I got to work…

Chugging down a bottle of water I set it aside and grabbed another one from the PRT trooper that had been assigned to help me… well, keep an eye on me really; and unscrewing the cap I lifted it above my head and tipped it over, letting the lukewarm- yet oh so glorious feeling -water splash onto my head.

Setting it aside as well I rested my elbows on my knees and stared into nothingness, just thinking.

I'd gotten lucky tonight. No two ways about it. Stormtiger had been one thing, with the power boost hed gotten he'd been able to move fast and could hit harder. It had complicated things, but not something that would have given me too much trouble in the end.

The sniper on the other hand… I absently felt at the lump of metal in my pocket. They'd been able to put me on the wrong foot once they switched to whatever they'd been shooting at me with after the failed headshot.

Those special rounds hadn't broken the skin or wounded me, but they'd hit with such a high concentration of force in one small area that it had felt like being punched were _INVINCIBLE HERO_ not activated.

"So," the trooper said after I'd been quiet for a bit and drawing the word out, "tough fight?"

Glowering as I was jarred out of my internal musings, I looked up at the private from under my eyebrows and as the dirty water began to drip from my hair and run down my face.

I probably looked something awfully scary, or maybe the trooper just had good instincts because he held his hands up placatingly and stepped back. "Just sayin, you look like you went to hell and back."

I let out a slow sigh which turned into a hacking cough as I ejected a bit more brick dust and ash from my lungs. I caught another bottle from the case the trooper had pulled from one of the transports.

Evidently, they were loaded up to deal with a fair number of situations. As it happened, having a case of freshwater played a part in most of them. I took a slow sip and tilted my head back, letting the water trickle down my throat.

"Well you go get a smoke stack dropped on you then tell me what it was like." Ok, that was a little mean. But in my defense he'd been starting to remind me a little of Greg. Not in that creepy stalkerish way that he'd had, but he was awkward and was just kinda staring at me.

Of course, he had been pretty much _ordered_ to do that so I couldn't exactly fault him for that… but still.

Fortunately, the captain of the troopers called him away; although not a moment later the bumper suddenly sagged and I absently noted a slot appear next to my rolodex.

"Ya know, if you were in the Wards you could have backup with you that can help keep you from getting into these kinds of messes." The man's voice wasn't patronizing or scolding, if anything it was amused.

I looked to my left to see the red body suited Velocity, his exposed mouth stretched into a grin.

I looked away from him, "Really not interested in the sales pitch right now."

"Ah I know, I heard about what you said to Miss M and Battery- I get you and I get where you're coming from, If I could do what you could…" The cape let out a low whistle before his joking tone turned serious, "But really, I'd suggest you consider teaming up with someone for patrols. I know Vista and the others were wanting to meet you, so there's that option. Or maybe see if you can go out with one of the New Wave kids, aside from Panacea they can all fly so they won't have any problems keeping up when you go speedster."

He absently gestured with his hand, "If anything though, try to find _someone_ that can watch your back. Anyone will do so long as you can trust them. We heros are outnumbered and no matter how strong you are numerical superiority can always have the potential to shift things in the other guys favor."

I nodded along with him. As it was, I'd already thought about the possibility of finding someone to patrol with- among other things - since I'd lain under the rubble of the chimney for a while before hearing the troopers.

"Maybe then you can keep from getting hit by a couple tons of brick while Stormy makes his escape."

I cringed. Now _that_ I recognized as chastisement. Sarcastic chastisement, but chastisement nonetheless.

But escape? Looking inward, my metaphysical fingers idly flipped through my rolodex until I found the selection Stormtiger had been granted. _EXPLOSIVE OVERCLOCKING_ … yeah. I thought back to how the man's bloodshot eyes and the drop of blood that had fallen from his mask, I now suspected that that wasn't from my hit; but instead from the selections side effects.

Sure, he may have gotten away. But _I_ was the one that was going to be laughing the last laugh; and the fact that he'd had to drop a building on me in order to do so was comforting.

From my peripheral I saw Velocity slap a hand on his knee. "So, now that the stern talking to as mandated by my seniority is complete, we can move onto the _fun_ part."

I glanced to Velocity as he waggled a little rectangle of with a small screen and grill set into its front. A voice recorder. He wanted me to give my statement… right, that had been one of the things I'd agreed to when signing the registration forms.

"Is that thing even going to work with me?"

He just shrugged and fiddled with the screen. "Not my problem, I'll be rehashing things in my report though so even if it's garbled it won't be a big deal."

He tapped the screen, turning the device on and illuminating a red light lit up under the grill before setting it on the section of bumper between us. "So first off, lets start with what happened..."

In, thankfully short, order; I summarized how I'd been given a tip off about the raid- while keeping mum on the actual source, although that was more due to my own embarrassment -and moving into action once the E88 had moved into position.

He'd had other questions of course- like why I would trust an anonymous tip that had zero credibility -but I was able to get through them fairly quickly and was soon enough gathering up my things and the water bottles I'd used.

It wasn't that I didn't trust the PRT not to do the right thing... but I just didn't trust those that _made up_ the PRT to do the right thing, those that comprised it and had their own dreams, goals and objectives in mind.

DNA sampling from saliva was something a police station could do; which meant the PRT would have no problem doing the same. And from what Assault had told me, doing that wasn't outside the realm of possibility when it came to powerful capes.

Assault… he hadn't exactly shied away with some of the stories he'd told of his own experiences when briefing me- and dad -on what cape life could be like. And frankly, I preferred my anonymity just a bit too much and didn't like the idea that my name _might_ pass through the hands of a desk clerk that made thirteen-fifty an hour.

Cynical, and Jaded in regards to authority? Me? No~

"Oh hey- hold up, one more thing before you go."

Rising back up with my new shield in hand, I looked back to Velocity as he came off the bumper; fishing a hand into yet another hidden pocket in his suit and coming out with a pen and small notepad.

Walking over, he flipped back the first page which looked like it had a… was that a dragon with a knight doll? Quickly scrawling over the paper he ripped it out of the pad and held it out to me. Accepting it, I looked down to see it was a phone number with an extension code.

Velocity just shrugged when I glanced up at him inquiringly.

"Armsmaster asked whoever ran into you to ask if you'd be willing to come in for power testing. If you're willing, just call that number and give the operator the extension number."

Blinking, I looked down at the slip. I'd already done some makeshift testing with Assault, but… I slid the slip into my pocket, "I'll think about it. I'm going to be busy though for the next week or so though, so if I do call it won't be until after that."

"That probably won't be a problem. With this ABB and E88 thing heating up he's been pretty busy and what time he doesn't spend on the streets he's in his lab working on some new project with his Dragon Waifu."

I nodded along, that was to be expected. He was the leader of the East North East Protectorate after all… I cocked my head at Velocity as my mental process ground to a halt, "...Dragon Waifu?"

Velocity just looked at me, "Pardon?"

"You just said Armsmaster was spending time with his Dragon Waifu. What's that even supposed to mean?"

"...I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about," he denied, but the minute twitching at the corners of his lips told me otherwise.

"Right… I should go."

The red costumed man simply waved a jaunty waved before disappearing in the next second, and a moment later I did just the same.

+X+X+X+X+

Exiting through the front doors of Arcadia several hours later I groaned loudly and obnoxiously as I reached toward the ground, my back popping loudly as I did so.

That testing. Wow, such questions. So tiring.

Readjusting my messenger bags strap I began meandering away from the school.

It was… polarizing, how different Arcadia was from Winslow. No graffiti, standardized uniforms- something which had earned me a few curious looks as they were something I'd lacked when I'd been heading back out the halls with the Teachers assistant, proper facilities; and the large, two story H shaped building was just overall _better_.

From what I'd seen from glimpses through the classroom windows the class sizes were a bit impacted, and that was somewhat expected, but everything had been managed nicely. I mean, I'd known it would probably be different but it was amazing what a difference it was when it looked like the majority of the staff actually gave a shit.

But also, and somewhat unsettling, was the number of capes present.

Oh there had been a few at Winslow- which I had actively ignored when their slots popped up -but their were at least three times that number here, and a few slots had been floating around my mental rolodex no matter which section of the school I'd been in.

That had pretty much confirmed it for me that the Wards attended Arcadia, however; even with their number and that of the New Wave kids there were still a fair number of capes in the school. It made me wonder.

It wouldnt be a problem, but it did make me wonder if the Protectorate knew about them. And thinking about _that_ made me think about the message I'd gotten from Assault just before I'd gone to bed.

I sighed and began a slow, meandering walk down the path toward the street. And from there I began ACTIVATING my more combat oriented selections, turning them on one by one until I'd reached some more populated areas and ACTIVATED _THE NON-DESCRIPT_ once I was among a crowd.

And once I'd walked a few blocks I slipped into an alleyway. Then up I went with _SPEED BLITZ_ and was skimming across rooftops like a rock skipping across the water a moment later.


	19. Chapter 19

A few hours and several stops later I was at the tower, a push broom in hand as I slowly cleared the floor of rotted insulation material and broken ceiling tiles.

That had been todays project, sweeping the place out. Over the years the insulation and ceiling tiles had just disintegrated, leaving a grey mess all over the floors of the tower and the metal framing bare.

Neither the tiles nor the insulation were asbestos based, thank goodness, but it was messy, dirty, and somewhat tedious work that I'd been putting off. But now, soon enough the floor would be cleared and I could finally hang out here instead of on the roof without fear of eating something extra.

Not that the roof wasnt nice to hang out on of course, but since I was starting to patrol it would be nice to have somewhere other than at home that I could store stuff and use as a base. Besides that though it could get pretty windy, and sitting up there I ran the risk of someone spotting me and connecting me to this place. So it was inside for me.

Admittedly though it could get a bit dark in the later hours, so maybe a good solar powered battery or something would be in order once I figured out how to hide the light from being visible outside.

At the far side of the room a door creaked open, the sound echoing between the bare columns that helped hold up the building and quickly followed by the clomp-clomp-clomp sound of boots on bare concrete.

Just another reason I liked this floor besides it being an open space, because you could actually _hear_ someone walking rather than the muffled sound of walking on the raised floor that was on the majority of the other floors.

"Wow, way better. I'm not choking on the dust this time."

Stopping, I leaned on the broom's handle as I turned to Assault. My off an on again mentor was in his civies this time, a flannel, blue jeans and black half mask over the top half of his face; watching him as he looked around the place. "Where'd you put all the crap through?"

I nodded to a section of wall that was in the middle of the room. It was actually a rectangle, but you couldn't see that straight on, and set into it was a pair of tarnished silver doors, next to which was a black rectangle of the same shape with a metal pipe placed width wise in it to keep the doors open.

"It's only halfway down now but it's better than nothing."

Looking to the entrance to the shaft opening in question he snorted, "Good choice, that would have been a pain the ass to bag up."

Nodding in agreement, I tapped the broom head against the floor to knock it clean before swinging it onto my shoulders and resting my arms on its pole. "So whats up?"

Instead of responding he simply grunted- which was telling in itself -and walked over to one of the windows and looked out over the city.

"Bad?"

He just grunted again and I looked him up and down, bringing _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ to the top of my selection and momentarily ACTIVATING it. He was Stressed-Tense-Frustrated... so _bad_ would probably be a good guess.

When he didn't answer I meandered over to the little folding table I'd found on one of the lower floors- one of the few intact things I'd found -and leaning the broom against it I sifted through my textbooks and as yet eaten lunch; looking for a pack of handi wipes to clean my hands.

Eventually finding them under my english book, I carefully cleaned the dust off before grabbing up my lunch; and at the sound of the crinkling paper Assault finally spoke up.

"The PRT is considering bumping your rating up."

I stopped as I was opening my bag of apple slices. Ah, and the PRT's parahuman rating system was partially based upon if they were a perceived threat or not. Well that wasn't good.

"Is this about the fight I had with Stormtiger last night?"

"Partially," he sighed, "maybe, I don't know all the details but it was over a couple things." He turned away from the window to face me, his mouth turned down in a grim frown, "Primarily though I'm thinking its because of a report we got back from the Think Tank this morning about Stormtiger being several magnitudes stronger than previously suspected. Would you like to explain that to me?"

Pulling open the bag I pulled out and bit into an apple slice, considering how to put it as I chewed.

"It wasn't exactly by choice," I finally told him, "he just popped up behind me, didn't hear him or anything until it had already happened." I raised a finger, "But, I can almost certainly say he won't be able to do what he did last night and may not be able to do what he did before he got boosted by the selection."

At his continue gesture I told him about it, as well as the other selections I'd gained- those that weren't blacked out at least -and by the time I finished he was leaning against one of the rooms pillars; a bag of pretzels pilfered from my lunch in hand. "Huh… well thats interesting, you haven't tested it out yet have you?"

"No, although there was a lesser version of it that I'm pretty sure had been one of the blacked out selections. That one didn't look to bad when I checked it over. I think that at the most it would make me tired or put me out of commision for a bit."

Making a considering noise, Assault tilted his head back and upended the bag of pretzels into his mouth, mashing through the mouthful of sodium before swallowing and nodding. "Well, hold off on trying it out will you."

"I'll try," I promised and Assault nodded as he crumpled up the snack bag and pushed away from the column.

He grinned as he walked up the pillar that was nearest the table and where I'd leaned my sword and shield against. "Gotta say, you scared the crap out of some of the newbys last night with your living dead impersonation." He looked back at me and prodded the shield with the toe of his boot. "You mind?"

I just shook my head and he picked up the shield, raising it up and looking it over before knocking on it; then he did it again, and again, and again. With each hit the knocks became progressively more powerful as he looped the kinetic energy back into himself, enhancing the blows and making the shield ring like a gong.

Then he stopped and held it out in front of himself, looking it up and down. "I think I'm jealous."

"...You _think_ ," I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, Clockblocker pretty much said it best the other night. And I quote, 'her power is complete super mega bullshit,' heh also said he wants to see what getting _SIDEKICK_ will do for him- most of the youngins would in fact."

He set the shield down, "But what I'm getting at is I've gone up against some of Victor's boys before, they are the ones that you beat up last night and the one that probably took the potshots at you by the way." He jerked his thumb back at the shield, "The thing is though, I've broken those things before. They work _great_ for small arms and stuff like that but not so good against solid hits. What I just did was five _times_ what it usually took me to break them. Like I said, Bullshit."

I just grinned, not my Mad Girl Grin, but just a smug grin of satisfaction. "About the wards though, Velocity said something about patrolling with them?"

"Yeah, the idea was to get you more friendly and open to joining up. But that was before we found out about Stormtiger. Right now their orders are to return to base if any of them run into you." He shook his head, "But you shouldn't run into them so long as you patrol along the docks, there mostly being held back and away from the main hot zones right now."

"Huh, well I guess I'll go with Plan-B then."

"...Plan-B?" Assault asked, the confusion clear in his voice.

I smirked, "Just something I've been thinking about since Velocity told me I should find someone to watch my back.."

"Well don't hold me in suspense, who is it." When I didn't say anything he walked up, reached out, and poked me in the shoulder. "Well?"

He poked me again when I didn't answer, then again, and again, and again until I slapped his hand away; it reminded me of seeing someone slap a little kids hand away from the cookie jar.

"It's not my place to say. And besides, they're still a work in progress and I dont even know if they'll work with me yet.."

Grumbling, Assault reached up to poke me once more. "You're no fun ya know that?"

Laughing, I looked to him when he beeped twice. He raised his wrist, pushing back his sleeve to expose a small watch.

"Damn, times almost up…"

He nudged my shoulder, "Anyway, the reason I called you is I want you to lay low for a bit," he held up his hand to cut me off before I could retort.

"I know, but if you're going to patrol try not to get into anything, from what I heard Piggott wasn't too happy about the whole chimney thing. That and the fight down on the docks…" He shook his head, "too much destruction in a few days makes it seem like that will be the norm for you and that's _not_ something you want. But here," fishing his hand into his pocket he pulled out a small, blue and white phone with silver accents. Although looking at it I saw it was actually rather beaten up and worn, only a silver N was visible over the small square screen. "I know you probably don't want it, considering well… yeah, but if you run into something sizeable at least call it in."

Hesitantly, I accepted the device and looked down on it while worrying my lip. I'd probably have to hide it from Dad, even with how much better he was doing the reminder of Mom it wouldn't do anything good.

A charger was suddenly dropped onto the table and I looked back up to him. "It's old, but it's reliable and you shouldn't have to charge it too often. I even had an old contact of mine fiddle with it so you shouldn't have any worries about using it."

"Im not sure… but I'll hold onto it."

"You do that, you never know when you might need to phone a friend…" Trailing off he suddenly grinned, "And besides, it's perfect for you."

And with that last cryptic remark he left, crossing the to the fire escape door and whistling a jaunty tune.

And with that last cryptic remark he left, crossing the to the fire escape door and whistling a jaunty tune before stopping and shaking his head. "- _NAZI HUNTER_ that's such bullshit."

And then the door slammed shut behind him.

XXXX

It was nearing sundown and Rachel and I were in the backyard; taking a break from studying to throw the ball for the dogs.

Winding my arm back I pump faked, sending Brutus and Judas scrambling across the grass before they realized there wasn't a ball and raced back. _Then_ I threw the ball and Angelica shot off, her smaller body zipping through the space between the other two dogs as they hesitated.

The yellow ball bounced off the wood slats of the back fence and she leapt up to to catch it… but missed. Coming back down, she spun around looking for it but Brutus already had it and was saturating it in slobber as he brought it back to his master.

Rachel frowned as she accepted the ball and gave him a scratched while she waited for Angelica to return.

Then once she did she slowly pulled her arm back and threw; the ball lazily flying in a high arc and this time Anglica did get it, albeit by blindsiding Judas and stealing it from him. She was the lightweight to Judas's middle and Brutus's heavy; but she was scrappy and quick on her feet, allowing her out move the other two in short distanced.

She'd probably be able to get the ball a lot more often if it weren't for her missing eye… her eye. I narrowed my own in thought as the dogs came back, watching Angelica.

Well now was as good a time as any.

"Rachel?"

Turning slightly, the larger girl looked at me from the corner of her eye as she accepted the ball from Angelica and gave her her head rub.

"I have an idea that may let you heal Angelica." The girls hand froze on Angelica's hand and she fully turned to look at me, her face blank but her eyes intense.

"Explain."

I opened my mouth before promptly closing it, thinking about how to phrase it and how to explain… "I'm not certain it will work, but something I can do is boost what another Parahuman can do. With Armsmaster, when I fought against Lung, it made him faster while with another it made them more efficient with their power and could hit harder with it."

I absently gestured to the dogs, "With you… I think it may fix the 'blueprint' or fill in the missing or damaged sections. What do you say?"

"You think I could heal them if you… boosted, me?"

"I _think_ you could."

Her eyes narrowed at me and a moment later the dogs started growling. "And how do I know you aren't mastering me with it."

"Well…" That was a good question, but _fortunately_ it was also one that Assault had raised when it had first connected to him when we were power testing. _Unfortunately_ however, I couldn't just tell her that.

"Well the PRT and Protectorate aren't out in force to take my head for one thing. If it had a Master effect then I doubt that they would be letting me operated on my own."

I could tell she was considering it as she stared at me, the night tense and the dogs occasionally looked back and forth between us.

"Fine."

And she decided just like that… huh. Mentally shrugging I looked inward and reached out with my metaphysical hands to flip through my mental rolodex, working my way through until I got to _SIDEKICK_. Then removing it, I slotted it into Rachel's slot which had been orbiting my rolodex whenever she came by.

It ACTIVATED, and in the real world I watched as Rachel slowly felt over Angelicas ear stump and around her missing eye. I watched, waiting for her to something until a few minutes passed and she snapped to look at me. "Well, are you going to do it or not!"

I just leaned back and blinked. She hadn't felt it or anything? Sure that matched up with what Assault and Battery had said, but still.

"I already did it," I told her, "do you need anything to use your power?"

She looked askance at me before shaking her head- but then she stopped half way. "Chain. Heavy. Do you have any?"

"Chain… uh, yeah, just give me a moment."

Rising off the bench I headed inside, making for the basement. It took a bit of digging, but eventually I found a length of red rust speckled chain on the bottom of one of the shelves.

Returning to the backyard I held it out to Rachel, "Is this ok?"

She frowned but took it anyway, kneeling down to gently drape it loosely around Angelicas small neck in a simple loop before locking it in place with a carabiner she'd pulled from her pocket. Then she whistled twice and held out both end of the chain to Brutus and Judas, who I only then realized were rather thicker than they had been before I left. "Hold."

I warily eyed the chain and Rachel saw me when she looked back. "She's used to it but It's a precaution in case she doesn't react well… and you should move back."

Accepting the words of wisdom from someone who knew what they were doing, I stepped back several paces and watched as Angelica began to swell.

Her muscles rippled under her skin, starting from her back and spreading out through her little body until she was twice as large as she was moments earlier. Then she began to grow out; her legs lengthening and body stretching.

Rachel kept at it until the chain was tight against Angelicas neck, and by that point she looked almost like a much smaller version of when she'd charged me at the Ferry Station. Only the dog looked more… even. She was lacking the cyclopean eye- although one of her eyes was still closed shut -and her bone spurs were only little nubs that were protruding from the sides of her legs.

Then she twitched and shook her head, bringing one big paw up to scratch at her closed eye; and as I watcher her stubby ear, which had been almost invisible under her shaggy fur, began to grow out. It was like watching one of those ash snakes that parents got little kids during the Fourth of July until a few seconds later she had a second ear that matched the other one.

Hesitantly, Rachel reached out but then snatched her hand away before she could get close enough when Angelica shook her head and sneezed.

And when she looked back up it was with _two_ hazel eyes, instead of the one.

I walked a little closer as she began to shrink when I when blindsided and nearly reacted by punching whatever it was when I realized it was Rachel, hugging me.

She didn't hold onto me for long though, and not a few moments later with my arms pinned to my side she let go and turned back to Angelica; kneeling down infront of the now normal dog, feeling at her new ear and carefully lifting the new eyes eyelid.

I sat back down at on the bench, watching as Rachel lovingly attended to Angelica, removing the chain from around her neck and rubbing her belly when she rolled over. I couldn't help but smile at the sheer amount of _happy_ that was coming off the girl.

The smile however turned to a grimace of confusion as I looked inwards and saw a selection in Rachel's slot.

It hadn't come from my rolodex through, I would have felt it or noticed it. No, this had appeared _within_ her slot.

I was tempted to ask if she felt or noticed anything different, but watching her I decided it could wait.


	20. Chapter 20

By the end of the night I wasn't really sure how it had happened, but Rachel had stayed over and fallen asleep on the couch.

I hadn't gone out on patrol that night, instead opting to heed Assaults advice and spend the time considering things; much of which I spent flipping through my mental rolodex, cataloging and checking through the new selections that had appeared or become available for me to use.

To be sure, there were a fair number whose implementation would be problematic and even more that had little connections to others- like _DYNAMIC ENTRY_ did with _VICTORY POSE_. But, one of the selection that I had received from Stormtiger only, only had one; and it was simply a stance or intense focus. I wasn't quite sure which it was.

 _IMPOSSIBLE EDGE_ : it would be a bit tricky to use without running the risk of dismemberment- unless that was what I was aiming for -but I could probably come up with some uses for a blade that, from the looks of it, could cut through almost anything.

The other main thing that occupied my thoughts, however; was Rachel.

Assault had told me a lot- and even revealed a lot -about how some capes changed when they Triggered. And checking in on Rachel to see her curled up with her dogs on the rug, I had to wonder how much she had.

When she'd first showed up after tracking Angelica, she had reacted almost exactly like Brutus had- for at least a moment -when I'd ACTIVATED _INTENT_ ; and from what I'd read in the non-redacted portions of her file, she'd gotten her power at a fairly young age then promptly gone on the lamb.

Really, with how she acted sometimes, I had to wonder how much of her was dog and how much of her was human. From what I'd seen she was almost like the pack leader for her dogs, with Brutus being the Alpha dog over Judas and Angelica.

But that raised the question of what was I to her, if she followed a pack structure which followed the strongest…

Shaking my head I dismissed the thought and looked away from Rachel's sleeping form, surrounded as she was by her pack. Powers could be pretty weird, but even that was out there.

After laying in bed and finally getting some shut eye I discovered I was barely able to sleep… _again_ and woke up just a mere two hours after I'd fallen asleep.

And I'd lain in bed, again, for the second night in a row until deciding to go for a jog; something I'd been neglecting for a while. Funny how that happens, but I suppose since I'd had _INVINCIBLE HERO_ pretty much running 24/7 like I did it made sense that something like exercise would fall by the wayside.

So with that in mind- and somewhat bothering me once I thought about it -I dug out my pair of running shoes and slipped out of the house an hour before sunrise.

Unfortunately, it didn't take me long to realize that what I was doing was completely ineffectual. So long as I had _INVINCIBLE HERO_ ACTIVE the selection almost completely negated any of the effort I was putting into the exercise. I felt a _little_ burn from my calfs, but that was it.

I slowed to a stop, in reality I was staring blankly ahead while internally I was looking at my selection. At _INVINCIBLE HERO_.

I could DEACTIVATE it with just a thought and then I could continue… but I'd had it ACTIVE for so long, it had always been there; its presence acting as a safety blanket. It had been a reassurance, a reminder that no matter what the trio did to try and hurt me it wouldnt matter. It reminded me that I would always have a way of dealing with it.

In the end I didn't DEACTIVATE it and turned back, walking instead of jogging or even _stepping_ back home. Not being able to do something without my power helping me… that didn't make me feel good, not one bit.

But I didn't let it drag me down and I spent the walk home proactively thinking about how I could fix it.

When I got home Rachel was gone and Dad was stumbling about, barely lucid as he fumbled through the process of setting up the coffee maker and it was only once he'd downed his first half cup had the rest of his brain woken up; and by that time Rachel had- rather surprisingly -returned, having taken the dogs for a walk to relieve themselves.

She, in contrast, was looking just fine. Albeit perhaps a little on the stiff side from sleeping on the floor with the dogs instead of staying on the couch.

From there things had progressed pretty much business as usual. By the time breakfast had come around, however, Dad had surprised me by offering Rachel a job. Not anything official, but instead an under the table contract to patrol around where the cleanup work was being done by the Union.

Evidently, the more than a few bums and transients had been spotted lurking around the jobsites. While that wasn't saying much in itself, Brockton Bay was chock full of homeless after all, it became a bit more complicated when taking into consideration that the Merchants roster was primarily dominated by homeless.

Add in the current tensions between the gangs and needless to say it was better to err on the side of caution.

Although hiring on Rachel… well, even she didn't seem that comfortable with the idea. Or even think it was a good one.

She stared back at Dad, her expression one of someone that had heard something stupid. "You do know that I'm a Villain right?"

"So," Dad answered and sipped at his coffee, "I've already talked with a few of the guys that follow the cape scene. They said you've had some problems in the past but didn't seem all the bad."

He grimaced, "But to be frank, everyone would rather have _someone_ than no one and the cops aren't willing to send anyone to patrol the area so that leaves going outside regular channels. And compared to some of the local Super Villains no one is going to care about you."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "And the Cops and PRT don't do anything about it?"

Dad just shrugged, "It wouldn't be the first time the union has hired Villains for this kind of thing and it probably won't be the last. The way the police see it is that it's one less thing they have to worry about so they don't bother."

"And the PRT," Rachel pressed and dad looked to me.

"They'd probably be suspicious if anything… But I think if she's seen actually working and not committing a crime I don't think it will be a problem." I turned to Rachel who was frowning, "I mean it's like he said, people have seen and know who you are but have you ever been bothered when you're not doing anything?"

She was quiet for a long moment, thinking. "...No."

"Then what do you say?"

Instead of answering, Rachel looked toward the dogs who were over in a corner and steadily plowing through three filled bowls; I'd gotten another bag yesterday, and a good thing because the three of them could _eat_.

"How much."

I smiled, it wasn't a yes. But it wasn't a no either.

Dad nodded, "I was thinking twenty an hour starting from eight when work starts and ending at four when everyone gets off with a two hundred bonus for if you have to deal with anything that day."

My eyebrows raising in surprise I glanced over to Dad and saw he was serious… Although thinking about it, that wouldn't be as much as hospital bills would cost if anyone was injured by fighting.

I looked back to Rachel, eyes narrowed as she stared down at the table and her lips moving silently. She frowned, then looked out the corner of her eye to me.

I shrugged, and she looked back to her dogs. "...I'll need to think about it and take care of some things," She muttered before looking back to Dad. "Eight O'clock?"

"Eight O'Clock, do you need me to get you the address?"

"No."

Dad just chuckled, "No, I suppose you wouldn't need one. Can't really miss the jobsite." He glanced to me and feeling my cheeks flush a little I picked up another piece of bacon to nibble on. It wasn't _my_ fault that Lung wouldn't just give up… or that he threw me through so many buildings… or was on fire… or that-

The squeal of a chair sliding back pulled me out of my mood and I saw Rachel stand and push her chair in before heading down the hall.

I quickly rose as well, following her into the living room where she was gathering up her things into her backpack. I leaned against the doorframe as she whistled and the dogs came trotting in from the kitchen.

"I know it may not be as well paying as knocking over other gangs but try and consider it."

"I said I'd think about it," Rachel muttered and clipped the dogs leashes to their collars before standing and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

I opened the door for her as she approached and let the dogs go out in front of her but stopped at the entryway and looked over to me, meeting my eyes. "Can you do what you did for me last night? Helping me heal Angelica I mean, some of the other dogs are hurt as well."

"At the kennel?" She nodded and I smiled lightly, "It would be no problem. Just let me know whenever you want to do it."

Nodding again, she just stared at me for a long moment before stepping onto the porch and I shut the door behind her.

Heading back to the kitchen I found Dad had unfolded the newspaper. Picking up my and Rachel's plates I nodded to the paper, "Anything interesting?"

Heading back to the kitchen I found Dad had unfolded the newspaper but he looked up as I gathered my plate and Rachels.

"Do you think she'll accept?"

I grimaced and put the silverware on the plates. "Maybe… I don't know. I wish you'd told me you were going to do that though."

He sighed, "Sorry, it just slipped my mind and I only got the call late last night."

"Ok… but still, the Union hires capes for protection?"

Dad just nodded solemnly. "Under the table and unofficially, yeah. We boys can scrap with the best of them and we've beaten the hell out whoever's tried to come collect _taxes_ from us over the years but when capes get involved…" Trailing off he shook his head, "It's best to just contract out when it comes to that and even better to be proactive when you can."

"But why not hire whoever you did last time?"

"Because the people we usually hired were Uber and Leet."

"Uber and Leet?" I echoed, rocking back a little as Dad nodded.

"Yeah. They did good work, for pretty low pay at that, and were reasonably easy to work with. But… well after the whole hooker thing it was decided not to use them anymore. We just haven't had any problems since then so I didn't really know who else to contact about security."

Huh… I guess I couldn't really fault him for asking then. I nodded to the paper, "Anything interesting?"

Dad nodded as I walked around him to the counter and set the dishes in the sink. "Apparently some group of roaming Super Villains calling themselves The Travelers hit Brockton Central yesterday."

Frowning, I set the plate down and turned to look over his shoulder and saw a big picture of the bank in question with a group of four riding off on what looked like a centipede creature while a literal _sun_ hovered behind them.

"You didn't hear about it?"

"...No, I was over at the tower doing some cleanup work. I didn't hear anything about it."

"Well it says here they were last seen in Boston. I just hope they'll be moving on sometime soon, last thing we need are _more_ Supervillains."

XXXX

"You did well. I had heard your team was adept but it is reassuring to know it first hand." Sitting behind my desk I folded my hands together as I stared across at Trickster, recently returned from the safehouse him and his team had held up at overnight.

The man across from him nodded and slowly turned the lip of his top hat between his fingers. "So we proved ourselves capable, when are you going to bring in someone to look at Noelle."

Love. How so very… tragic.

The girl was obviously beyond all hope, the now nonexistent Sarah had proven that quickly enough. She'd gotten _some_ information of course, but then she'd said something insulting as she was wont to do and gotten herself eaten by Miss Meinhardt malformed body.

It had been quite the surprise, yes, but at least not he knew a bit more about the risk the girl could pose. It was a good enough point to cut off the timeline anyway, Sarah had already revealed what little she'd been able to uncover concerning Indominus and had been reminded of where exactly her fates lied as far as she was concerned.

It had only been the proverbial icing on the cake that I'd been able to keep her longer in the alternate timeline once she'd been escorted back to where he'd had her picked up. Some thrift store or another.

"As it happens I was able to have a contact under my employ examine Miss Meinhardt via remote camera and sensors in her room. They didn't have anything conclusive, but they will be analysing the information and contact me once they have something."

Tricksters turning hat jerked to a stop, then he started turning it again. "Thank you," he said evenly, "if that is all?"

I nodded and the man turned on his heel to stride out of the room.

When the door clicked shut behind him I reached under my desk to press a button and several dull thunks sounded out from the door as it was secured. Spinning to face my bank of monitors I tapped a the keyboard, waking the system and a few taps later I was following Tricksters advanced through the facility.

It didn't take long to extrapolated his route, he was headed to visit Miss Meinhardt.

Yes, such love could only end in nothing less than disaster… Remembering how the malformed girl had nearly been able to break free of her containment cell, however; I typed in a quick note to order more potent incendiary and sedative sprays for the cells systems.

It never hurt to be _too_ safe.

Rocking back, I made a quick overview of the current operations. But soon enough I was rising to my feet, and crossing to the back of the room I opened a hidden door to a hidden hallway that led to a hidden set of rooms.

Stopping in front of one of the doors, I tapped at the keypad set into the wall next to it and entered the small room beyond. The sole occupant skittered back, shuffling backwards in her pajamas as I entered.

Slowly, I sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the little girl across from me as she stared back, her fear visible for all to see.

"I am going to ask you several questions and you are going to answer me. Do you understand Pet?"

Dinah Alcott shook her head violently, her brown hair whipping back and forth.

"I will be forced to hurt you if you do not cooperate with me."

The girl stopped and her eyes slowly traced back to him.

"I will hurt you, but I will not kill you. You are much too valuable for that. I will not hurt you if you tell me the truth."

The girl slowly shrunk in on herself, if that was even possible. She knew though, with her amazing power she could see the truth in my words in ways I likely couldn't even comprehend.

"Do you understand."

The girl slowly nodded.

"Very good, pet." The girl flinched back, but she continued to stare at me. "What are the chances that I will be ruling this city within the next three months."

"Forty three point seven seven eight percent."

I frowned, it was a bit ahead of my expected timetable but that was still rather low. "Four months."

"Forty six point nine zero eight percent."

Better, but only marginally so. "Five months."

"Seventeen point one seven one percent."

What? "Pet… need I tell you again that I will hurt you if you lie to me?" The furious shaking of her head and quick timeline split answered my question well enough. "Chances I will be dead within four five months."

"Eight six point six zero seven percent." The girl squeezed her eyes shut and let out a low moan. "It hurts…"

"I will have someone bring something to help." I snapped, "Now one more. Chances I will be killed by a threat I am aware of."

"N-ninety one point six-"

I held out a hand to stop her, "Enough."

So it was someone I was was at least aware of, and was in the city. That would allow me to narrow the possibilities considerably. Rising off the corner of the bed I cross to the door and it slid open as I heard a thump behind me.

"S-sev- Seventy s-six point eight n-nine nine percent."

I rounded on the girl as she lay on her side, her eyes staring up at me through a curtain of her hair. "I didn't ask you a question."

The little girl smiled, it was a cold thing. Viscous and victorious, like those of the monstrosities of that forsaken town. "N-no, but I d-did," she answered, stuttering.

I crossed back to her bed and grabbed ahold of her arm, pulling her upright. "What did you ask!"

The girl just smiled as her eyes flickered open-shut and a vein over her eye twitched. "I-I ask-asked if I wi-will b-be resc-rescued."


	21. Chapter 21

Filling in the one final bubble on the green scantron in front of me, I looked it over to check for any errors before setting my pencil aside and looked up to the Teachers Assistant sitting behind the desk on the other side of the empty classroom. A woman this time that hadn't introduced herself. Short- or at least shorter than me, pale, with her blond hair pulled back in a messy bun.

I cleared my throat. Not loudly, but just enough to draw the woman's attention. "I'm finished."

Nodding once, the woman scratched finished whatever it was she was working on- grading a teacher's papers most likely -and set it aside before pushing away from the desk; adjusting the rolled up sleeves of her white blouse as she approached. And coming to stand next to the desk she looked down at the completed scantron and then to a small watch on her wrist.

Her eyebrows raised a touch and she looked to me. "Are you sure you would rather not review your answers with the time you have remaining?"

I tweaked my lips, looking back to the scantron and considered it… but only briefly, and looking up at her I shook my head negative. "I think I'm good, I skimmed back through each section as I finished them and the English portion was pretty easy."

Nodding, she gathered up the inch thick stack of assessment tests, the scantron, my essay portion of the English portion, my scratch papers, the pencils, and made her way back to the desk and sorted everything away into one accordion folder while the things she'd been working on went into another.

"Follow me please."

Sliding out of my chair and grabbing my messenger bag I followed after the T.A. as she crossed the room and exited into the hallway.

Walking through the halls of the school at a steady pace, the woman's short heels clicking and echoing through the empty hallway as we walked in silence until we eventually reached the administration offices where she crossed to one of the offices; and holding the door open she gestured for me to enter.

She didn't follow and the office was empty. I looked back questioningly to her.

"Just be patient and take a seat."

Then she turned and left the doorway, leaving the door open while going back into the reception are before turning off into a side hallway and going deeper into the administration offices. I sighed and wiped my slightly sweaty palms on my jeans before moving to sit in one of the two chairs set in front of the desk, upon which was a simple nameplate that read: Vice Principal Howell.

Well… this could either be a good thing, a bad thing, or a routine thing. I was hoping for either a good thing or a routine thing.

So I sat there, there clock set into the wall ticking slowly ticking by and awkwardly shifted in my seat as I looked around the office. It was… fairly spartan really.

The desk had the usual things you'd expect from an office: computer monitor, cup of pens and pencils, stapler, etc; the usual stuff.

But there wasn't much else. The wall on the left had a few a shelving unit that was slightly sagging under the weight off too many books and aside from the framed credentials and certificates on the wall behind the desk that was it.

No framed pictures of friends, family or graduated students; and no cheesy 'You can do it' art work.

A few more minute passed with the clock ticking by and while I heard a few people pass through the reception area it was mostly quiet. So I pulled my latest book out of my bag- a dog eared copy of The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald.

I'd found the classic among some of Moms old teaching things the night before. Out of curiosity. I'd flipped through it and found numerous underlined sections throughout the text. A sentence underlined here, a paragraph boxed in there, a comment scrawled in cramped lettering in one corner.

I couldn't tell what it had all been for- and none of the things packed away with it indicated anything -but I hadn't read it and judging from some of the highlighted passages it looked interesting. So I'd brought it with me.

Unfortunately though I was only able to get through a few pages and had reached a good point when I heard the muffled squish of shoes on the thin carpet behind me and the door hiss shut behind me.

I place my folded posted- my current bookmark -into my spot and set the book down on my backpack before looking up to see the T.A. walk past, moving around the desk to setting into the chair behind it.

I blinked in surprise, watching as she pulled out the keyboard tray and booted up the computer. Then it clicked.

She was the Vice Principal. .

Looking away from the monitor she smiled knowingly, "I don't think I introduced myself did I."

It was a rhetorical question, and thinking back I realized she hadn't really said much at all besides repeating the instructions the T.A. from before had. "You're not a T.A."

The woman let out a short bark of a laugh. "No, I'm not a T.A."

She tapped at her keyboard for several moment and I shifted uncomfortably, both from not being sure what to do and not sure what was going on. I eventually just settled on waiting for her to speak and after clicking and tapping away at the computer for a few more minutes she did.

"I have a few questions that I would like you to answer- honestly, if you don't mind."

"Um… ok."

Nodding, she tapped at her keyboard, frowned, muttered something under her breath then reached under her desk and I heard the a click before the barely audible hum of its fan shut off. Then there was another click and it started again.

She came back up and folded her hands on the desk as the computer- if her action as well as the ominous whine and clicking sound coming from it was any indication -booted back up. "Why are you here Miss Hebert."

Her gaze was questioning and intense, she wanted answers and her tone told me she would broker no bullshit, "Could you clarify what you mean?"

"I mean," she glanced to her monitor and reached below her desk, clicking and tapping away for a minute before continuing, "why are you at this school instead of completing your education at Winslow. Or, for that matter, why…" Her lips turned down for the barest of moments in what I distinctly recognized as disdain before she continued, "Principal Blackwell so insistent on your acceptance here? An acceptance mind you, that passed over many other students."

I tried to think of an answer for that but came up short.

That, however; wasn't my problem. It was Blackwell's since she had neglected to tell me what she'd used as an argument to get me bumped up the listings… Well she asked for honesty so that was probably the best option and petty vindictiveness against Blackwell may have also had something to do with it.

"I'm not sure what she said or what her argument was, but I essentially threatened her with a career ending lawsuit."

simply raised an eyebrow- not quite the reaction I was expecting, although I wasn't even sure what I would have expected -and looked to her computer monitor before reaching under her desk and I heard her mouse click several times. Then she reached up and turned the monitor so we could both see it.

A look at it told me it was my student record. Displaying my stellar academic performance all the way through elementary and middle school up until it jumped off the cliff in high. "Would that have anything to do with why your grades dropped like a rock? From what I'm seeing here you were set to be advanced a grade level once you left middle school."

I stared back at the woman before shrugging, but it was only partially out of disinterest. The point of how badly the trio had cripple my educational standing was one of the things that still stung a bit.

Not only had it been something that I'd done for Mom- keeping my grades up -but It had only been once things had gotten too bad that I had realized I could have potentially escaped some of their treatment had I been advanced a grade. "That would be a safe assumption."

"Bullying?"

"...Among other things," I admitted.

Nodding, she grimaced and turned the monitor back to her, quietly muttering under her breath.

I couldn't make out what she was saying, although I was fairly sure I heard an 'Incompetent' and a 'Bitch' in there… I was starting to get the feeling that she didn't quite like Blackwell. Not one bit.

I smiled, I think I was starting to like her already.

She tapped at her keyboard for a minute, her eyes scrolling back and forth across the screen before looking back to me. "Well, I think I can say you will have a much better educational experience from here on out and incidents involving bullying or anything involving an altercation between students is not tolerated here- _I_ do not tolerate it as it is part of my responsibilities here. There are also security cameras that monitor the halls for that type of thing, do you understand?"

I understood, she didn't want me retaliating in the event I snapped if someone decided to pick on the new girl. I was also tempted to comment that Winslow had had cameras as well but I kept that to myself.

So instead I simply nodded and she continued, "Very good. As for your enrollment today's tests wont be assessed until later this afternoon but from the looks of what you have scored thus far I don't believe you will have any issue catching up in whatever classes you are eventually placed in."

She looked to her monitor and clicked several more times. "And on the topic of classes, your set to meet with your assigned counselor tomorrow to go over your class schedule." She clicked once more and a printer that was out of sight under her desk began humming and whirring as it spat out several sheets of paper.

Soon enough, she was tapping a thin sheaf of paper against the desk before stapling it together and handing it over to me.

"I would suggest you read through carefully read through everything."

Flipping through it, I saw the pages were filled with school rules and other things I would need. Like a map, a list of electives I could choose from and a list of places that the components of the school's mandatory uniform could be purchased at; among other things.

Picking up my bag, I flipped its flap open and slid the sheaf into a binder that I'd been mostly using for random doodles.

Mrs. Howell tapped at her keyboard for a little bit longer before turning to me. "And I think that concludes everything," she reached over her desk, her hand extended and I shook it. "Welcome to Arcadia."

+X+X+X+X+

Overhead, a small bell tinkled as I stepped into the musty smelling thrift and surplus store.

It was a bit darker inside on account of there not being many windows and the lighting being sub par, but quickly enough my eyes adjusted as I looked out over the racks of old, new and used clothing, cubbies that were filled with all manor of paraphernalia and shelves of accessories.

Slowly, I made my way through the aisles; picking up an item or article here and there until I reached the counter. I ended up filling the counter with the things I'd picked out and the haggard, forties something man behind the register looked a little put out until he looked back to me and stood a little taller.

"Find everything you needed miss?"

I looked at the pile, realizing I had a bit more than I probably needed… except I would end up using it all. Sure the folding cot and pad probably weren't necessary but I could set it up at the now clean Twenty Seventh Floor so I could crash there if necessary. Some of the other things however, were admittedly a bit of a stretch… although.

"Actually," I turned back to the man, "I was looking for a messenger bag or something like that but didn't see anything. Do you think you have anything like that out back?"

Frowning, the man looked down at the counter and drummed his fingers on it before nodding once. "I think we may have something. Give me a few minutes to look. We just got some stock in and haven't gone through it all but I'm pretty sure I saw some old medic bags on the inventory."

Smiling, I absently waved my hand as he walked to the other end of the counter. "Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

And take his time he did, I heard shuffling and thumping from the back rooms though so I knew he wasn't at least taking a smoke break. But oh well, I took the time to pick through what I'd grabbed; thinning out the pile a bit so I was only taking up a quarter of the counter top. And as I worked my way through everything, I idly watched a slot appear alongside my rolodex.

I warily eyed it with a metaphysical eye but when nothing happened I started gathering up my now unwanted items and put it out of my mind.

I wasn't worried, I had THE NONDESCRIPT and _INVINCIBLE HERO_ ACTIVE and if anything did happen it probably wouldn't be to difficult to deal with.

Then I started going back through the aisles, replacing things where they had been and refolding things there necessary. Shirts, socks, gloves, a few pairs of cargo pants. A lot of the stuff I realized I already had, although one thing I did end up keeping was a large, drab green jacket I'd picked out through.

Sure, it smelled bit of mothballs and would need to be washed- several times -but it had a removable fleece liner and a lot of pockets.

It wasn't that I got cold- at least not when I had _INVINCIBLE HERO_ ACTIVE -but it was still a good find and in great condition; and folding it over my arm I walked up to a spinnable rack of assorted sunglasses that I'd somehow missed.

Stopping to stand in front of it I absently reached out, turning the stand and slowly looking it up and down until I spotted a pair of aviators that I was almost certain were the same model as the ones that were sitting on my nightstand; broken.

Removing them from the rack, I glanced back to the counter but saw that the guy still hadn't come out of the back room; and listening, I could still hear him moving things around.

Sighing, I turned back to the rack and rotated it so I could see my reflection in one of the little inset mirrors. Then I slipped off my glasses, folding the arms back and hooking it them onto the neck of my shirt before slipping on the sunglasses.

Carefully, I felt along the arms and focused on how the fit felt on my head. It was… close, to the ones I already had. A little looser, but that could probably be fixed easily enough.

The doorbell jangled and I glanced back to the door out of curiosity, however; the combination of blurriness from non prescription glasses, their tint, and the racks of clothing in the way kept me from seeing anything.

Slipping off the sunglasses, I deftly unfolded and replaced my normal pair before taking another look at the sunglasses the; then at the rack. I found the little price sticker after a moment of spinning the rack to where the aviators had been.

"Ten bucks…" Humming, I mentally tallied what the price tags on the things I was keeping had said but was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder.

"You know," a distinctly girls voice said, "the whole cobbled together outfit look works pretty well for you. But I would really suggest you get yourself a standard costume, Hero."

I stilled, crash ACTIVATING all of my selection with a thought as the girl continued.

"Just for consistency you know, so you don't get mistaken for someone else or fresh meat."

I turned, my free hand curling into a tight fist as I took in a head of blond hair, and a vulpine grin that I distinctly remembered; primarily, because the last time I had seen it it had gotten me pissed off.

And I was starting to get pissed off right now. Funny, how that works.


	22. Chapter 22

I stared blankly at Tattletale as her mouth moved and she said something, I didn't hear what it was though because all I could think of was _how_.

How had she found me?

Was it simply a coincidence?

Could she have learned about me from Rachel?

I actually considered that one for a moment but discarded it. Tattletale probably hadn't had to get it _directly_ from Rachel; she was a thinker after all, and a supposedly high level one if Armsmaster was correct.

Then Tattletale smirked and my temper jacked up several notches. That expression, it was _exactly_ like the knowing smirks of the trio and their posse when they'd done something.

Once by one my knuckles popped and my fist clenched even tighter.

The smirk faltered and Tattletales eyes flicked downward, to my closed fist most likely. However the smirk returned quickly enough as she gestured to the rest of the store and raised an eyebrow.

I still wasn't listening to her. Or rather, I was now actively _not]_ listening to her thanks to the divided focus granted to me by the crash ACTIVATED _MULTITASKER_. It as a bit taxing at the best of times and could give me a wonderful headache, but using it to concentrate on ignoring what she was saying- lest I get _more_ upset -while the majority of my concentration was focused on figuring out the _Hows_ was a simple task.

How had she found me, how had she known I was here and how did she know who I was.

I understood what she meant though. I wouldn't do anything to her while we were in the middle of the store, and she knew it.

It was just- weren't the oh so vaunted unwritten rules supposed to be in place to guard against this type of thing? Flaunted was probably a better word for them though, going by this it was evident just how much Super Villains thought of them when it came down to it.

Not really surprising- as I'd thought upon first hearing them- though, they probably only made the effort when it benefited them, that would fit… but god damnit, first Rachel and now her.

Rachel was one thing. There was a good bit that had been known about her.

But Tattletale, she was mostly an unknown and a thinker to boot. So really I- I let out a slow breath and forced myself out of a downward spiral.

What was done was done. She'd found me, but I _knew_ how effective _THE NONDESCRIPT_ could be when I'd tested it with Assault, so in all likelihood it was probably just luck on her part that she'd found me. And anywhat, it wasn't as if she knew my face.

And with that, I just let it go… Well, I really DEACTIVATED a number of my selection that I'd used for the testing and shuffled _THE STOIC_ out of my rolodex and ACTIVATED it. The effect was the same as if I'd had time to calm down though, useful that; there wasn't even any of the usual problems-

Motion, from the other side of the store drew my attention and I looked to see the the cashier heading back to the register; a bundle of lumpy green fabric under his arm.

Ah, how fortuitous.

Continuing to concentrated on ignoring Tattletale, I stepped around her and headed back to the counter. Behind me, Tattletale made some noise of protest but I just walked up to the counter and set down the sunglasses and jacket before picking up the satchel.

Flattening it out, I saw it was made up of a thick, light green canvas with a faded red cross emblazoned on a white circle printed between the flaps buckles.

Overall, the bag didn't have anything special going for it; it was just that, a bag. It didn't have any side pockets or compartments, nor extra features save a row of grommets on an inside flap.

I wasn't sure what those would have been meant for.

Slowly inspecting it- while ignoring a comment from Tattletale -I checked that the fabric wasn't cracked or torn, worn through and eventually I carefully tugged at each corner seam; testing to see if the old stitching could hold up to the strain. It did, and it had been exactly the type of thing I'd been looking for.

Setting it back down on the counter I looked up to the cashier. "I'll take it."

The man nodded mutely, and with that he started grabbing items and adding up the total price.

Beside me, Tattletale made a disgruntled- almost indignant -noise and asked something. I ignored it, but whatever it was made the cashier look up and glance between the two of us before wisely going back to his counting.

He didn't take long to ring me up. Whether it was anxiousness to get me out of the store or a was uncomfortable at the growing tension that was saturating the air between Tattletale and I, I didn't know.

But soon enough and with a clack of the registers old keys the little display over the register was displaying the cost of all the items. It was a bit much, but considering the quantity of things I'd picked out I wasn't really going to complain; and as I was digging into my pocket a slender hand held out a black credit card to the cashier.

Following the arm, I finally _actually_ looked at Tattletale as the card was swiped and saw she was glaring back at me; her lips pursed and eyes narrowed in either anger or frustration.

So she was paying for my stuff… how nice of her. "Thank you." There, propriety's given and I'd even been polite about it.

The other girl smirked, it was a condescending and self gratifying thing. And at that I immediately went right back to ignoring her and helped the cashier bag up my things; which ultimately ended up being four large paper bags from the grocery store.

Fortunately, I was able to cut down the number by one bag by donning my jacket and stuffing its numerous pockets with the little things I'd picked out, wrapping the simple scarf I'd grabbed around my neck and lower half of my face, slinging my satchel over my shoulder and filling it, and pulling the strap of the cots carrying bag over one shoulder.

Despite all that, however; things were still a bit unwieldy, and with everything I was considerably wider and had to edge go out the door sideways in order to get out of the store. Although, that may have had to do with how much the ends of the cot stuck out from over my shoulder and below my hip.

+X+X+X+X+

I'd gone a little less than a block, looking for a good place to turn off the street so I could _step_ away, when I started to get the beginnings of a headache from _MULTITASKER_.

I wanted to DEACTIVATE IT, but she was still there. Following me- well walking beside me actually -and trying to get my attention like an a gnat. A _very incessant_ fly.

Unfortunately though, when I finally turned into an alleyway that ran along a pizzeria she got tired of my ignoring her and tried to force me to acknowledge her by moving to stand in my way.

She put her hands up in front of her. Palms out, as if to say 'just hold on;' a frustrated look on her face.

I stopped, just so I wouldnt walk into her and stared blankly at her as I idly noted that it was getting a bit harder to concentrate on ignoring her.

Looking relieved she sighed and slowly lowered her hands. She probably thought that she'd finally gotten me to acknowledge her… which I suppose she had.

It was simply her misfortune- or perhaps miscalculation -in how I decided to do so; and deftly, I DEACTIVATED _MULTITASKER_ and shifted my bags into one hand before snapping my hand out to grab her bicep in a firm grip.

Predictably, she immediately began to panic and tried to pull away but not before I'd _stepped_ ; bringing us to edge of the apartment building's roof that was situated over the pizzeria.

Then I let my grip slacken and she pulled herself away as quickly as she could; but she was unbalanced and her footing off from the sudden transition from the street level to the roof. Needless to say her feet tangled themselves and she fell hard to the roofs sand covered surface.

Glaring up at me, she slowly rose, wincing, and I saw her palms were a little scraped up.

Briefly, I considered whether or not I should just _step_ away. I could leave her up here and just continue on my way… but that was _THE STOIC_ reinforced thinking, and didn't particularly take into account the disturbing fact that she _had_ found me; which wasn't something that could just be ignored.

And, as Assault would have said, that would have been a dick move.

Stepping off the edge of the roof I set my bags down and looked her in the eye, she met my gaze for only a moment before snapping her head away.

I watched her for a moment longer, waiting for her to speak. But after a minute of tense silence between us she just stared back without responding, so I let _THE STOIC_ DEACTIVATE to add emotion to my voice.

"I am going to make this simple," I said slowly, making sure my words were clear and concise. "What the hell do you want?"

Finally, she opened her mouth but I quickly raised a hand for her to stop. "Actually, how about you tell me how you found me first and then maybe I'll consider listening to what you have to say."

Tattletale frowned but after a moment she nodded. "It was your outfit. I went on a hunch and made stops to all the military surplus stores asking if they remembered a tall, brown haired girl." She shrugged and looked away, "A few of them knew I was talking about you- but not _you_ _you_ ," she added, "just what you generally looked like."

"And you thought approaching me in _public_ was the smart thing to do? Are you stupid or something?"

At 'stupid' a muscle in the girls cheek twitched and she crossed her arms over her chest, "Ok, well first, _sorry_ -" She really didn't sound like it though "-I didn't really expect that it would _actually_ be you. And _second_ , I wouldn't have had to approach you like this if you hadn't put me on ignore!" She snapped and as I narrowed my eyes at her hers widened and she paled a little.

There had only been one person I'd put on ignore, and that was on Parahumans Online. "So, _you_ are Enemy Mine." I could practically feel my blood begin to pump as I curled my hands into fists, "I didn't appreciate being set up against Stormtiger and Viktor like that."

Tattletale responded but I just raised my voice and continued over whatever she said, "And I _especially_ didn't appreciate getting a smokestack dropped on me."

"- I didn't know they would be their goddammit! All I knew was there would probably be the raid and that was it! Now _please_ , can you turn off your Im Going To Kill You Aura so we can have a civil conversation!"

What? Im Going To Kill You Aura? What was that supposed to- looking inward I realized that _INTENT_ had ACTIVATED. I hadn't even noticed it running… or ACTIVATING… oops.

DEACTIVATING it. I slowly unclenched my hands and thought about what she'd said.

If what she said was true then her finding me had been, like Rachel, simple luck of the draw that had been a little weighed in their favor. But that was twice now, and I'd be damned if it happened again… I'd have to think of something.

The E88 and ABB thing though… that was certainly plausible enough, but it didn't negate the fact that it had still happened and that it had been _her_ that had given me the info… But she was here now and I had her dead to rights so I may as well hear her out.

"Ok. I can accept that, now what do you want? And for that matter, I'm sure you thought you were being cute with the name and all when you picked it out but why the _hell_ would you think I was your friend. Bigger fish to fry in the city or no."

Like a switch being flipped, Tattletales demeanor shifted from frustrated to serious. She laughed, but it was hollow. "Well I had wanted to earn your trust through the PHO before it came to this... but I suppose this'll have to do." She cocked her head and smiled, this wasnt like her previous condescending ones though. This was… _bleak_ , "Let me tell you a story…"

+X+X+X+X+

I was back at the tower again, on the now cleared Twenty Seventh Floor and setting up some of the things I'd picked up.

Gently pulling on the rope in my hand, I stared hard at the rusted length of iron pipe the other end of it was tied to; and slowly but surely I leveled it out with the other end that was being suspended from the ceiling with another piece of rope.

Tieing the length of rope off I stepped back, double checking that I had it right before pulling a knife from my pocket and flipping it open to cut off the remaining length of rope.

There, now I had something to hang some clothes from. Then I noticed the flaw in my ingenious idea, "And now I just need hangers."

Grumbling at the oversight I turned back to my unpacked and set up camping cot, over which I had dumped all the things I'd bought. But I pushed all that aside as I cleared a space and sat down.

Making the clothes rack- hunting down a loose pipe in particular -had really just been a minor distraction from thinking about Tattletale. Her picking Enemy Mine had seemed presumptuous. But really, Bigger Fish _indeed_.

Reaching out to the side, I grabbed my binder and flipped past some old doodles of potential costume ideas to a fresh page of lined paper. And pulling a pen from my pocket I wrote out across the top margin in block letters: COIL.

Disturbing, was one way to describe what she had told me about him. But unsettling was another and came in a very close second.

Spies in the PRT, Empire Eighty Eight, Azn Bad Boyz, The Archers Bridge Merchants… if what Tattletale had said was true- which was still in question -then the elusive and almost unknown cape had his fingers in almost all the pies of the city.

That wasn't good, not one bit.

Personally, I was a bit sceptical; even though I'd had [i]PHYSICAL LINGUIST[/i] running and telling me she was showing all the indicators or being truthful. But still, the way Tattletale had described it he had been playing the man behind the curtain, manipulating everyone else while he slowly seized power piece by piece.

It was somewhat comical and something you would see in a hollywood movie flick. Even his name, Coil, made him seem like one of the old James Bond Villains that Double O' Seven would take down in some secret lair. It was just so… _cliche_.

Sighing, I rested my elbow on my knee and rubbed at my forehead.

Resting my cheek in my hand I looked over what I'd put down, double checking that it was everything Tattletale had told me and what I'd already known- what little that was -about the Supervillain.

Then I flipped to a new page, the time writing out: TATTLETALE, in the header with, LISA in parentheses and a question mark. She'd told me her name as a way to to try and get me to trust her a bit more, or at least that was what she'd admitted, but that had come back as a False Positive from _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_. Which I still wasn't sure what to make of but made a note of it.

Telling me her civilian name- or at least the one she used -had been part of why I was somewhat inclined to believe her about Coil. The other part had been her disclosure about what her thinker power could do; Super Sherlocking, she had colloquially called it and the admittance that _THE NONDESCRIPT_ could almost effectively no-sell it.

But then, oddly enough, she'd pulled out a roll of twenties an inch thick and just tossed it to me. Explaining that thanks to what my power did to her she'd be able to fudge what Coil had been able to get out of her. How, she'd neglected to say, but it was an interesting tidbit nonetheless and could have been potentially useful so I'd made note of it as well.

And overall she'd been quite forthcoming. But lingering behind all her revelations had been a sense of desperation.

Again, it had came back to the concept of if she was telling the truth. Or at least it would have if _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ had not metaphorically lit up with what it was getting off of her as she'd told her 'story.' Fear-Anxiety-Desperation-Stress, and those had just been the basic ones.

I turned to a new page, this time labeling it: BITCH, with RACHEL LINDT in parentheses.

What she'd had to say about her hadn't been much more than what I hadn't already known or suspected; mostly just confirming things. If anything though, it simply highlighted just how messed up the girl was.

But alternatively, she had revealed just how much my simply tutoring her with her English was helping. So there was that.

Although the confirmation that she saw me as a pack alpha- and herself subservient to(deferential)(beneath) me -made me a little uncomfortable.

Grimacing, I scrawled a note to look into canine pack behavior before snapping the folder shut and tossing it aside before pushing my glasses up and grinding my palms into my eyes. This day… was just too much.

There was just one more thing to do though, and reaching into my pocket I pulled out the phone Assault had given me I check what time it was… "Yeah, should be late enough to call," I muttered to myself, and thumbing in one of the phone numbers I'd had to memorize as of late I hit send and held the device to my ear.

It rang once, then twice, then the call connected.


	23. Chapter 23

Once again I found Rachel asleep on the living room floor, surrounded by her dogs… well, asleep may have been a bit generous. Passed out may have been a more accurate term. Especially if her quiet snores were any indication.

Apparently, she had more than earned her pay- and then some -when she'd shown up at the clean up site down at the docks and had subsequently driven off a bunch of the Merchants unpowered members while the cleanup crews had been on lunch a few hours later.

Smiling down at her curled up form, I shifted my messenger bag and slung it off my shoulder as I approached the stairs; setting it on the first step as I headed into the kitchen to find Dad, throwing together dinner.

Walking up to the kitchen counter, I eyed what he'd gotten out as I reached into the cupboard to get out a cup; beans, chopped carrots, and a roast. It was simple, but it would cover the basis. He looked over to me as I closed the cabinet door.

"Hey Kiddo… so we didn't get to talk much when you stopped by, but did you have a good day?"

I filled my glass and hopped up to sit on the counter. "It was good enough. A little boring though, bought some stuff at McAnally's and did some work at the tower but that's pretty much it." Only half the truth, but it hadn't taken long to decide that telling Dad what I'd learned from Tattletale, or about the meeting itself, would be a potentially bad thing.

"And what about school," he asked as he grabbed a spoon and stirred the beans. "How did your testing go?"

"Eh, I finished it up pretty early and I ended up meeting the Vice Principal though."

"Oh?"

I shrugged, "She seemed nice enough, not to mention competent. She made me think she was the Teachers Assistant and knew there was something off with Blackwell pushing my transfer through."

"Hmm, you're not in any trouble are you?"

Shaking my head I took a sip of my water, "I don't think so… Mostly, I think she was just wanting to make sure I wasn't bringing my problems from Winslow with me."

Reaching over, I reached into the simmering water of one of the pots and snagged a piece of sliced carrot. Dad flinched back and reached for my hand, but stopped himself as I tossed back the piece of orange vegetable and waggled my unharmed fingers.

Sometime I still surprised him with the casual uses for my powers. He didn't particularly like when I surprised him like I just had, but if anything it was a great way to divert a conversation.

"So you said she handled the Merchants pretty well. Anything else happen?"

Shooting me look, dad just grimaced and tapped the spoon he'd used for the beans against the inside of the pot to shake off any of the sauce before setting it on a napkin. "Well the PRT came by when the cops came to pick up the trash and decided to actually give a shit."

Taking a sip of my water I slowly swished it, trying to get any lingering dust taste that the carrot hadn't taken care of out of my mouth. One thing could definitely be said about the lower levels of the tower, that much dust and crap did _wonders_ for making people not want to stick around.

"Well... she's still here, so what happened?"

Grinning, Dad knelt down and cracked the oven to peek inside. "She told them to fuck off and let her do her job. A lotta' the guys got a kick outta that."

"And I'm sure the troopers didn't like that."

"Nope, the boss of the bunch gave me this little warning about her being dangerous and everything. I mean sure, she's rough around the edges- maybe a little more than most admittedly, but take most of the women in the Union and you'll be hard pressed to find one that isn't.

"So they just left?"

"Yep," he confirmed and stood back up before going opening a cabinet and pulling out several sets of dishes. "Only after calling back to whoever was in charge, though. And even then he tried to _advise me_ that I should find someone else to do security. I just asked him how many of those Merchants probably had worse records and left it at that."

Setting down my glass I slid off the counter and grabbed several more glasses and picked out some silverware from the drawer. "Well, with everything going on I can only guess that she was probably considered too low priority and just not worth the trouble to try and apprehend."

"That's what I was thinking."

The conversation mostly ended on that note and an air of comfortable silence settled over the kitchen as we got everything ready and it stayed that way until I went off to wake Rachel for dinner

XXXX

If there was one definite double edge aspect to her power, it was that requiring almost no sleep out of the year had some rather frustrating drawbacks.

Primarily, in the form of paperwork.

I was expected to _always_ have my reports in on time because _of course_ the woman that had nothing else to do most nights wouldn't mind sitting behind her desk and filling out forms. And for that matter, _of course_ she wouldn't mind filling anyone else's.

Well admittedly the last one didn't happen all too often anymore. At least not since my Wards days when my knife had 'slipped' out of its sheath to land between Colin's legs when I'd been walking by his table in the cafeteria. He'd wisely put together an automated machine to cut down on the time he had to spend filling out the reams of forms he had to fill out for his creations after that.

He'd occasionally upgraded of course, as he was wont to do when he had time or was in a tinkering mood. But over a decade later and he still had the little filing box sized device tucked away in his workshops expansive store room. He'd _said_ he kept it as a reference to what he used to be able to to create and how he'd grown over the years. I personally thought he kept it was a reminder not to push me too far, it would at least play into my theory as to why he never gave me any of his newer paperwork devices.

His original excuse upon being asked was that it would be an unnecessary drain on his time when he inevitably had to repair it when it broke down, as most tinker tech usually did over time. Despite how much I thought otherwise about it though, I always came back to the conclusion that it was him being a little vindictive over being embarrassed.

He had been trying to ask Marissa out on a date after all… or at least that was what I thought he had been trying to do, a decade later of occasionally revisiting the memory I still wasn't sure. The way her fellow former ward- and now Protectorate member -teased him had always reminded her of pent up sexual frustration, so there _was_ a little evidence that supported it.

But no matter the cause that was why I was there, in my office, sitting behind my desk and filling out forms at three in the morning when my phone rang.

Looking to the touch screen device I saw the call was for my Cape number, _not_ my personal line, and that oddly enough the callers number was blocked. "Hmm," and with a flourish I signed off on another form before grabbing up her phone and leaning back; swiping it to answer as I brought it up to my ear.

"Miss Militia speaking."

From the receiver speaker I could hear wind passing by and the person on the end make a noise of surprise. " _Uh, one moment, sorry_."

Unconsciously, my eyebrows raised in surprise as I recognized the teenage girls voice on the other end as belonging to Indominus. Through the receiver, I heard a momentary squeal of metal on metal followed by a the clang of a heavy door being slammed shut; and there was something else, an… echo, of sorts before the young cape spoke up again.

" _Ah, yes, hello... are you still there_ ," the young cape on the other end asked, the nervousness coming through clearly.

Smiling, I absently nodded at the question despite the other person being not being in the room. "Yes I'm here. Is this indominus?"

" _No- I mean yes, this is her… Um, sorry for calling so late, or is it early… anyway, sorry for calling so late, I just had the card you gave me and I haven't been able to go to sleep and- and now I'm rambling_."

Her quiet giggle was echoed by an embarrassed groan on the other end of the line, "Yes, you are rambling a little bit but it's fine." My eyes glanced to the clock resting precariously at the corner of my desk, having been gradually pushed there by things tossed onto the surface over the last few weeks since last I'd tidied up, "As for the time… well I prefer to call it early myself, but that's just me."

" _I see, um, I'm sorry if I woke you up. Calling was just a spur of the moment thing and I was just going to leave a message_."

A little impulsive, but for her age that was really something to be expected. "It's not a problem, as it is I was already awake. But what about you? You said you haven't been able to sleep?"

Indominus grumbled on the other end and and steady creaking came over the line, "Yeah, over the last few days. And even when I do its only been for an hour or so, been getting kinda annoying trying to come up with things to do besides patrol."

Grimacing, a pang of sympathy went out to the other girl as I remembered what it had been like in those early days when I'd faced the same problem. Her sleep issues were likely insomnia based though in comparison to my power based ones. "I think I can sympathize, it's not too widely known but I don't really need to sleep. I'd suggest finding a hobby or a project if this continues for too long or see a doctor."

The line was silent for a long moment. " _A project huh... I actually think I know what I can work on, thanks for the tip- SCREEESSSHH_ -" Harsh static suddenly filled the line and I pulled the phone away from my ear but aside from a minor ringing in my ear the noise was already gone but nothing was on the other end.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

There was a long moment of silence, near the end of which before I heard echoing footsteps and the a scraping sound next to the receiver followed by a muttered curse. " _I'm here. Sorry about that, I guess the phone didn't like my Stepping_."

Frowning, I made a mental note about the emphasis she seemed to place on Stepping, "It wasn't a problem, just a bit of static. But back to why you called-"

"Ah! Yeah, um, anyway, I figured I would call to let you guys know I have a phone number that you can reach me at now."

I slowly nodded and reached out to tap my computers keyboard, waking it from its sleep. "That's good, can you tell it to me verbally though? Caller ID said your number was blocked."

"...Huh, I guess it works after all. Give me a minute to pull it up."

I grimaced as I put together the connotations of what she meant. The standard issue PRT and Protectorate phones were tougher and a bit more advanced than those on the open market, a perk of having Tinkers in your employ, and caller ID blocking shouldn't have worked. Which meant her phone was Tinker Tech or was somehow spoofing the system. But that raised the questions of _how_ she would be spoofing the system- which was likely very expensive and complex -and where she may have gotten such a device.

They didn't exactly grow on trees nor were they going to be cheap.

" _Ah, here we go_ ," and then she was back on the line. " _Are you ready_?"

" _Shoot_."

On the other end of the line the girl rattled off the phone number- which was five digits longer than a normal phone number and only added to the Tinker tech theory -before repeating it to make sure I had it. The repetition wasn't exactly necessary, having memorizing it the first time and typing it in, but it indicated that Indominus at least thought to double check things.

"I've got it. Now, while you're on the line was there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

There was a pause from the other end of the line before she spoke up again. " _...Are you sure_? _You don't have anything else to do_?"

A good question, but I looked to the dreaded nemesi spread out upon my desk that I wished I could use Davy on. Then I shrugged, "It's nothing that can't be put off for a bit."

Making a thoughtful noise, Indominus was quiet for a short while, " _Ok, um, well the other day I was_ …"

Forty minutes later I was in a much more pleasant mood than I'd been before I'd gotten the call from Indominus. However said conversation was now coming to an end. "And is there anything else you'd like to ask before you go?"

The teenager on the other end of the line hummed to herself, " _Actually there is. Velocity suggested I find someone to patrol the other night with and I was thinking of contacting New Wave_. _You wouldn't happen to know how to contact them would you_? _I know they have a website but I haven't had a chance to check it out_."

Smiling, I rocked back and forth a little. So she was taking Robins advice, that was good. "As it happens I do, do you have something to write this down?"

"- _Yeah, gimme a sec_."

Through the receiver, I could hear what sounded like clutter being pushed around. "Right, got it."

"Ok so there are a few ways to get ahold of them, though those are usually the official way and go through either Lady Photon and Brandish." Listing off the more official ways of contact took a few minutes, with Indominus making the appropriate noises along the way.

"However, if you're looking for patrolling partners you're probably better off talking to the kids. They have there own little chat room set up online… are you ready?"

" _Hit me_."

Rattling off the web address only took a few seconds and after that they bid each other there goodbyes; and hanging up I set the phone back onto her desk, an easy smile gracing my lips. Their talk had been… casual, and it had revealed much about the younger cape, more so than when they'd met in person; even if she herself hadn't realized it.

She was driven, held strong convictions, intelligent, headstrong, stubborn… and Jane had been right, Missy would most likely get along with her just fine.

But that would have to wait for another day, one when the Wards _hadn't_ been told to avoid her.

It was… troubling, the idea that the girl she'd been talking to could have made someone like Stormtiger stronger, inadvertently or not. But the idea to keep the Wards- other capes that were her own age -from interacting with her just rubbed me the wrong way.

It just… It just seemed like a bad idea all around and I had to question the wisdom of it since it ran the risk of potentially alienating someone that they could _not_ risk alienating. Not if what half of the Think Tank suspected her capable of.

Sighing, I recalled the memo that that had been sent out the day before concerning the updated threat assessment on Indominus.

 _Frankly_ , whoever thought it was also a bright idea to bump up her rating was an idiot since everything known about her was still all speculation as far as solid facts were concerned; even _if_ it was Thinker informed speculation.

But then again, Politics had likely played a part in it. And if anything could screw something up it was Politics… Politics and Bureaucrats.


	24. Chapter 24

Trope

#24

* * *

The weekend had been… boring, almost exhaustingly so in fact.

There had been the occasional skirmish and incidental encounter with the various gang toughs of the city that had helped take the edge off and alleviate things, but that had only been with unpowered forces that had usually caved a soon as the first of their number had gone down.

Miss Militia had suggested finding a hobby to keep me occupied, and that had worked to a point, but my original idea of doing more cleanup work on a few of the other towers floors had gotten old. Fast.

I'd sketched out some ideas for projects and looked things over to see if they would work. But making them a reality required money, and despite pilfering it off thugs and the occasional drug dealer I needed a fair bit more than what I had. And what I _did_ have was going toward other things that were more important… like stupidly expensive uniform clothes for Arcadia. And dog food, lots and lots of dog food.

So those things had to be put off for a later date until I had the funds. Which, in my sleepless nights, had left me with little more to do than aimlessly patrol; meandering around the city, stepping from rooftop to rooftop trying to find or think of something to do.

Im sure when I got my 'Catch-up' assignments from my first classes today I would get a temporary respite from my boredom and get bogged down in school work. But that was then, and this was now.

And right now, it had been that lack of sleep and aimlessness that had led me to the Docks. Or more specifically, the Ship Graveyard in the wee Monday morning hours.

The sun hadn't even quite risen yet, but judging by the growing glow on the horizon it was getting there, however; the light wasn't exactly required, thanks to _INNATE NIGHT VISION_.

Slowly, but faster than when I started, I shifted into _IMPOSSIBLE EDGE_ 's required stance… no, stance wasn't _quite_ right, though I couldn't tell what.

But nevertheless, I was getting better at it and could shift in and out of the various associated stances that went along with my Weapons other forms. Like my weapons lance form, which had me take on a wide but sure footed stance that let me flow into other forms fairly easily.

Now though I was working- or rather experimenting -with my weapons sword form.

Slowly, I shifted my right foot back; dragging it over the rusted deck of the scuttled tramp freighter. Then I shifted my grip on my swords long haft, spreading my hands toward the lower and upper halves of it as I held its point out it behind me.

Then I twisted my hips and swung, bringing the razor edged blade around in a flash and separating yet another chunk of twisted utility crane from the rest of its whole. But I wasn't done yet, I spun on my heel and let the weight of my sword pull it out from me while at the same time I forced it to change, to become my hammer.

And it was as I completed my rotation that the black metal of my weapon flowed into the enormous head of my Polehammer that I hit the chunk of metal that had yet to fall to the ground.

It _flew_ , and carefully watching it I tracked the now even more twisted lump of metal as it arced across the bay at speeds far faster than most could follow. And slowly but surely it began to fall, only the fact that I was actively watching it allowed me to keep track of it before it splashed down in a explosion of water; right next to one of the bright yellow buoys that were spread out across the bay.

"Good aim, if I didn't know better than I almost thought you were trying to hit it."

Letting the head of the hammer drop to the deck with a clang that reverberated throughout the metal of the ship; absently I adjusted it so its weight was propping itself up before looking to the sky, toward Dauntless. Clad in his spartan themed costume, with his thunderbolt shaped spear in hand and his boots sending off little white sparks he hovered there; silent, as he looked down at me from above.

He'd shown up quietly, without making himself known, but I'd noticed him anyway thanks to noticing a slot appear and subtly scanning the area. He'd opted to not make himself known though, so I'd obliged him and kept on as I had. Until now.

"Thanks, and good morning."

Descending , I thought I heard him mutter something that sounded like 'not another one' before he touched down a few yards from me on the scuttled ships surprisingly flush deck; but then again that had been why I'd picked it from the others. He looked from me, to the cut up crane, then to my hammer, then back and shook his head. "A call came in about someone messing around down here so I thought I would check it out on my way back to the rig," he looked off in the direction of the buoy.

He let out a little chuckle, "Not sure what, but I didn't think I'd find you here playing golf though."

I grinned, it was only a _little_ too wide. "Eh, I'm just practicing," I held my arms out to encompass the partially sunken ship and the bay. "I mean, what better place is there that I can experiment with my back swing?"

Crossing his arms over his chest he nodded approvingly and blue eyes crinkled in amusement, "Well at least your being responsible. You mind me asking what you're working on though? Maybe I can give you some tips."

Shrugging, I reached out and grabbed up my hammer by the middle of its haft as I took a wide step away from Dauntless before I began to absently spin it top over bottom; the large head of the weapon moving through the air like a ponderous metronome.

"Thanks for the offer. But I'm not really sure how you could, right now I'm just working on speed that shifting this thing between forms takes. The quickest way to transition between something like the hammer-" I suddenly swung at empty air, and as I did it shifted; the main mass of the hammer flowing back into a new shape and as I shifted my grip on the haft I swung it around to jab into empty air "-and the spear, or lance if you prefer."

Spinning the weapon one between my hands, I hammered its blunt end into the deck; making the ship ring like a bell with the impact. Needless to say it also left a large dent, and with my weapon held in front of me I looked over to Dauntless.

Slowly, his eyes traced over the weapon, "I see, you're probably right on that front." He held up his Arclance, albeit toward the emptiness of the bay; of that I took some comfort as despite him being boosted at the time it had been the lightning bolt shaped weapon that had been instrumental in taking Lung down. Probably not something I'd want to get hit with, "It's not really my forte, Armsmasters' the one you'd want to talk to if it was weapons practice. If your interested I'll let him know you're practicing, he'd probably appreciate sparring with someone a bit more skilled than I am- and stronger."

Blinking in surprise I idly spun my spear behind my back and onto my shoulders; I absently drummed my fingers on shaft for several second as I thought before nodding. Sparing with Armsmaster… that would be, "Awesome. I called the other night so my new number should be on file by now. I'm usually free after I get out of school, so after three I should be good."

He nodded, "I'll let him know, but on the subject of school. Shouldn't you be sleeping right now?"

His tone was stern, but it actually sounded like he cared. Shrugging dispassionately I just looked away from him and out onto the bay, "Been having a bit of trouble getting much sleep lately."

"...I see."

Something in his voice, a... weariness to it, made me look back to the Protectorate Hero.

"I know you have your reasons, but this type of thing really is what the Wards program was intended for. To help young Parahumans… deal, with any problems they have. There are professionals that you can see that can help you."

I had a few moments of confusion on my part until I realized what he was saying, besides giving a pitch for the benefits of joining the wards. "Oh! No no no. You misunderstand, it's not that I _can't_ get to sleep its just that I'm not tired."

"Ah," he said, taken aback, "something to do with your power then?"

Looking back to the bay I shrugged again, that _was_ something I had considered; but a mental brief check reconfirmed that _THE SLEEPLESS_ was INACTIVE and stored away in my mental rolodex. Still though, with how the effects of some of my selections lingered it _was_ still within the realm of possibility. Something to possibly consider.

"I don't really know, I lay down and get an hour or so before waking up again." I grimaced, "Its actually kinda annoying if anything. So what about-" Turning back to him again I saw a bit of light glint off the polished metal of his Corinthian style helmet and I looked around to see the sun peeking up just over the horizon. "Huh, well I guess its that time then."

"You're heading home I take it?" Looking back to Dauntless, I saw him staring in the direction of the rising sun as well before looking back to me.

"Yeah, you were right about the school bit and I need to take care of a few things. See you around."

"I will, and take care of yourself Indominus."

Nodding respectfully in response, I spun my spear off my shoulder and _stepped_ off the scuttled ships deck; touching down for the briefest moments on the surface of the bay before pushing off before I could break the surface tension.

The first few times I tried it I hadn't been so easy, but after I'd used Stormtigers' wind blade as a touching off point I had figured it was at least possible. The first time had ended in me going for a swim, but by that point I was already soaked so there was nothing to lose and it had only taken a few more tries before I'd been able to get the timing down.

And now I was able to skim across the ocean like a skipping rock… I just couldn't stop, lest I do like a rock and sink. Then I'd have to swim, and that really wouldn't have been fun.

XXXX

Staring after Indominus, I slowly shook my head and sigh in exasperation as I watched her appear and disappear across the water until she was out of sight; only then did I turn my attention to the warped, twisted, collapsed and rust covered utility crane. Or at least that _had_ been what it had been before she'd started cutting it down to size.

It was littering, technically, what the young cape had been doing but it was laughable charge at worst and weak charge at best; and considering the rest of the docks area a bit of a moot point.

Reaching out, I ran a gloved finger across the plain where she'd cut off the chunk of metal and could easily feel how clean a cut the big sword of hers had made. It was impressive, but at the same time incredibly disconcerting and I felt my balls shrivel up a little bit at the thought of having to go up against the girl with this being an arm or a leg.

There _was_ the reassurance that it would at least be clean and not a mess like with what Hookwolf could do, but it wasn't much of one.

Again, I ran a gloved finger across a bit of the exposed metal.

Slick, and perfectly smooth like polished glass; it had been cut without the slightest hint of resistance. My balls pulled in just a little more as I remembered just how casually Indominus had swung her sword around before I knelt down and looked around at what exactly was holding the piece she had cut to the rest of the crane body.

It probably wouldn't mean much, but Armsmaster would probably appreciate an example of what her sword could do.

It took a few minutes, more than a few kicks, using my Arclance as a lever, a few more kicks and some pulling; but eventually I was able to free the section of cleanly cut metal when the rust weakened bolts holding it together snapped. After that I flew back to the rig, although with the hunk of scrap metal weighing me down.

I got there though, and from there I only had to ignore the questioning looks from the personal as I hauled it through the rigs' labyrinthine corridors to Armsmasters' lab. From the red light over the door I could tell he was in the middle of something, but I pressed the call button on the touchscreen mounted the wall to the right of the door anyway.

Then I waited, and waited, and waited until I tried the call button again; and this time I held it as I waited, and waited, _and waited_ until I gave up and hammered against the door several times.

Only _then_ , after the fourth blow did the screen change show Armsmaster sitting at a bench in his armor- sans helmet -while his arms moved out of sight. He only glanced toward the camera but I could see the frustrated scowl, "What is it Dauntless. I'm busy."

My grip tightened on the scrap metal a little, just _how_ someone could get such an over inflated ego so easily was always something I asked myself whenever I had to deal with people that had them. But as I'd always done since the force, I just bore it with a smile, "I come bearing gifts, the disturbance down at the Graveyard was Indominus. Turned out the girl was practicing with that light pole of hers, figured you'd want a sample of something its sword form cut."

That at least seemed to make him stop what he was doing and after a moment he raised his head to look to the camera as he reached an arm out. "I see, one moment."

The video feed blinking out before he said anything else, it was several seconds until the door to the lab split down the middle to slide into the walls; and just inside was Armsmaster, his helmet back on. Taking one look at the piece of crane, he beckoned silently before turning to stride over to an empty workbench with and stood next to an empty section of black counter top.

It was the only clear section really, as the rest of the surface on that particular bench was taken up by machines and devices that he would probably never know the purpose of.

"You said she was practicing with her weapons sword form, did you see any others?"

Grunting in response and exertion, I heaved the chunk of metal up and dropped it onto the counter top with a solid thunk. "Yeah, her big Polehammer and an over sized spear. She was practicing changing it from one to another when I got there."

Stepping up to the chunk of metal Armsmaster was quiet for a moment as he looked it over. "I see, I'd suspected her staff could take on other forms."

"That makes what? Four so far," I asked. "Sword, Staff, Spear and Hammer?"

Nodding absently Armsmaster continued his examination. "Correct. They'd seem to be unwieldy due to her size, but her strength makes them quite formidable in her hands. However, I believe her knowledge of their use is more instinctual and most likely power based rather than by experience."

Crossing my arms over my armor plated chest, I watched as Armsmaster retrieved a device of some sort from a drawer under the counter top and attached it to an extending arm that he re-positioned over the chunk of metal.

"I don't know, she looked pretty handy with that thing to me."

Lips quirking up momentarily in a smug smile Armsmaster swiped his fingers through the air, manipulating controls that only he could see most likely. "Yes, that would _appear_ to be the case wouldn't it. However, that just means you need more practice then. Her stances and form is perfect from what I've seen, yes, but she is still stiff and not entirely accustomed to wielding a weapon. It's more... that she is going through the motions, or being guided. Thus power based."

Frowning at my colleagues condescending tone I pulled off my helmet, tucking it under one arm while I ran a hand through my short hair. "I'm sorry, but you've seen her using one of her weapons… what? Once?" I asked incredulously, "And that was when she was tenderizing Lung with that big hammer."

Momentarily stopping in his invisible ministrations he looked to me, "There _is_ a reason I chose Armsmaster as my name after all. As a Ward I did experiment with a large pole hammer similar to what she has at one point, however it was… inefficient, too limited in most scenarios. She is not so limited, by both her strength and the way she can change the weapon. And she had her staff form, if you remember. The forms for the use of a staff, at their root, are not too dissimilar than those of a Halberd."

"Hm, I guess its a good thing I let her know you might be interested in a new sparring partner."

His hands stopping even as they rose back up, Armsmaster lowered them again as he turned to me; his lips turned down and pinched tight in a grimace, although he seemed to be considering it at least. "...Your reasoning?"

"Look, its like you said. I need more practice and you need a better sparring partner. Someone that can actually keep up with you and not just play the part of a moving dummy."

"And have you _forgotten_ that we still don't know what the long term effects of her 'boosts' are? The _only_ reason I am not confined to Master Stranger quarantine is because of my own safeguards against such things and the fact that the city could erupt in chaos at any moment."

I nodded along in agreement with him, as the whole thing about the aneurysm- or what ever it had been -that had taken Stormtiger out of commission following his encounter with Indominus was suspicious. But there was something to it that I just didn't buy, there was more to it. "And did you think to consider that aside from getting her to come in for full power testing, which you _have_ to admit is unrealistic despite what she said to Velocity, the best chance to get hard data on the effects her boost would have would be during a friendly and unassuming spar?"

Deceptive, yes, and it left a bad taste in my mouth; but the idea brought Armsmaster up short and he stood there silent for a long moment before slowly nodding. "The idea has merit, I will admit. Good thinking. Now if you would leave, I need to get back to work."

Smiling, I took my helmet from under my arm and spun it between my hands and started to make my way back across the lab. "She said to call the number she provided the other night after school gets out," I said aloud, knowing he would hear me.

"And you're welcome!" I called back over my shoulder as I stepped through the door and into the corridor.

Behind me, the doors shut sharply with a clang of metal on metal. And for a moment I weighed whether he had made them do that, or if it was unintentional. I wasn't sure, but with how he could be at times I put it at even odds.

My smile turned into a satisfied smirk though, as either way Armsmaster most likely hadn't appreciated that I'd come up with something that he hadn't. A small snub, but it was the little things that counted; and as I meandered my way through the halls, absently spinning my helmet between my palms I turned my thoughts to the mess of files I had awaiting me in my office.

Speaking with Grue and learning the circumstances of him becoming a SuperVillain had been the start of it, but it hadn't taken too much discrete digging to catch the scent of something foul. Piggott had admittedly been something of a hard sell when I'd presented my evidence, but despite her bias against Parahumans she couldn't deny that my nearly fifteen prior years of experience as an investigator before becoming Dauntless didn't mean anything.

I'd probably been lucky she hadn't instigated a witch hunt then and there when confronted with the evidence, damning as it was about what was going on in her house.

Though as the old saying when, trouble comes in threes; and that was proven all too well when Grue's testimony about Shadow Stalker breaking her probation- and then some, if some of the preliminary investigation reports by the ones looking into things were anything to go by -was proven and the escalating tensions in the city.

So with everything else going on she'd put me in charge, at least until things settled down and she could get a handle on things. But honestly, I wasn't really sure if the return of the long nights going through reams of information was a welcome one or not. Going back to my roots was a somewhat enjoyable experience though, so there was that.

Although the return to going through such large volumes of paperwork was something that I had quickly re-acquired my dislike of.

* * *

Urg, started this on friday… or was it thursday… whatever, I definitely need to get back in practice of getting these out quicker.

Got the next few chaps leading up outlined though so should go quicker.


	25. Chapter 25

School. The institution that had been my living hell for for over a year.

But that had been Winslow, generally considered a shithole when put up against the rest of the public schools in Brockton Bay.

Arcadia, in particular. The place I would now be going.

Which was what made it all the more annoying that some prissy princess bitch was trying to show me the supposed 'pecking order' before classes had even started. Typical.

Slowly blinking I generally just shut her out, though without the use of _JUST IGNORE IT_ or _MULTITASKER_ some things still leaked through. My popularity? My reputation? Being cool? Emma and the rest of the trio and company had taught me just how much value there was in those things, but that just meant I wanted what this blond bitch was offering even less.

She was all smiles of course, holding her hand out to shake while her flunkies stood on either side of me. But it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. Although the nonstop talking was new. No one at Winslow had quite been able to do it as she was.

"I hate to interrupt but are you done yet?" I interjected once she'd paused to take a breath, "Because I need to get to class." The simple bluntness of my question had been enough to make her stop, and at that moment I pushed through them to continue making my way down the sparsely crowded hall before entering my first period classroom.

I was still a bit early, but as soon as I entered I spotted Mr. Jian sitting behind his desk; a stout Asian man who I'd met on Saturday when going over my assessment scoring with the counselor. And scattered around the classroom and seated at the chair-desks were several other students; some of whom I saw look up upon entering before turning to there neighbor, at least if one was close by.

Ignoring the staring though, I walked over to 's desk which was situated next to the far wall of windows and stood there; waiting a few seconds until he looked up and smiled. "Miss Hebert, you are early, good."

As one of the numerous Immigrants from Japan following the sinking of Kyushu, he had been of the lucky number that had managed to put their previous job skills to work, and had gotten a job at Arcadia as a history teacher, after re-certifying as a teacher. As I'd learned when I'd met him with my councilor.

He still had a bit of an accent though, which one would have thought made teaching in English a bit problematic, but to make up for it he made his sentences clipped and short. A bit odd, but it seemed to work well enough.

"I thought it would be a good idea to come in early."

Bobbing his head in agreement, the teacher pulled open a filing drawer in his desk and pulled out a thick manila envelope with my name on it and handing it over. My make up work, and taking it in hand I felt its weight. Not _too_ bad.

"Other class assignments are in there, can go at own pace but have until May fifteenth. Instructions inside."

Surprised that all my classes catch up work was in the folder, I absently weighed it again and voiced my thoughts to ; who simply nodded again. He'd done that more than a few times when I'd met him on Saturday and I was beginning to think it was just something he did.

"You did very well on assessment testing, other teachers and I decided to remove redundant and unnecessary assignments."

Well… wasn't that nice of them. Talking with for a few more minutes I eventually made my way to my assigned seat, a spot halfway down the wall of windows that looked out onto the school grounds and in the row ' desk was in front of.

I wasn't there long though, as while we'd been talking more students had tricked in and had filled in about half the seats. It wasn't long after that that the four minute warning bell rang and the rest of the class flowed in; a stream of teens that took there seats and eventually began to look and whisper to each other about the new girl.

And soon enough, after the bell rang and everyone was seated, I was called back to the front of the class.

Almost as one, the rest of the class looked to me as I stood and walked to the front of the class to stand next to , who clapped a solid hand onto my shoulder.

"Everyone, this is Taylor. She is joining us from now on. Why don't you introduce yourself."

One would think, that introducing a new kid to the rest of the class would have been something that had been figured out by now; to make things as least awkward for the new student as possible.

But if you thought that you would have been wrong. And as the eyes of the teen bore down on me, I felt the slight anxiety and nervousness that had been been simmering beneath the surface rapidly rise up. But I clamped down on it with a brief activation of _THE STOIC_ ; and with my nerves settled, I raised my hand in greeting. "Hi."

And thus, began my first day at Arcadia.

+X+X+X+X+

Almost in contrast to Winslow, where everyone pretty much tried to ignore me, at Arcadia there were more than a few people throughout my classes leading up to lunch that tried to get to know me. Or, at the very least, introduce themselves.

It may have been the cynical side of me, or the side that was suspicious of betrayal- which had happened more than once at Winslow -but all the hellos and polite introductions had been a little… off putting.

Which was what had led me to the school's rooftop. Against the school rules… probably. But the door had _technically_ been unlocked when I'd gone through it and there was no sign saying otherwise.

So it was with book in hand and lunch at my side that I found myself sitting atop an AC unit, avoiding everybody.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be, and before I could do anything about it _THE STOIC_ shot to the top of my selection and ACTIVATED. Looking inward, I ignored the empty Slots floating around my mental rolodex and focused on my own, just staring at the errant selection before halfheartedly trying to DEACTIVATE it.

Predictably, as when these things usually happened, it didn't budge; and before I could try and figure out what the hell was going on a commotion in the real world drew my attention.

"Hey you! What are you doing up here?! This area is an out of bounds area for students."

Looking to the roofs edge and the source of the voice to see Victoria Dallon floating over the ledge in white polo shirt and blue skirt. And in her arms was Amy Dallon, in a white polo and the tan khakis; like I'd chosen. Although she had added a sweatshirt to her ensemble.

And~ unfortunately they just so happened to be Glory Girl and Panacea respectively, two of the more prominent members of New Waves' second generation and two of the people I'd been _hoping_ to avoid encountering while here. Yeah, fat chance that had been.

Descending to the roof, Victoria carefully let her sister down before crossing her arms under her chest and rising up to my eye level. "Well? What do you think you're doing up here?"

Simply blinking at her, I looked pointedly from her to the repurposed plastic grocery bag behing held my Amy; then I looked back to Victoria. "Well... I expect its the the same thing _you_ were planning to do. To eat my lunch in peace and read."

Fists clenching tight, she narrowed her eyes at me. "Me and my sister have _permission_ from the principal to be up here. And how did you get up here anyway, the doors are supposed to be locked."

I just stared back at her, an example of favoritism already? Well that didn't take long at all. "Well it wasn't and-" I couldn't even finish before she cut me off; and my did she need to get off her high horse, if this was how she was in public then I would probably need to re-think going on a joint patrol with her.

But nevertheless, judging a book by its cover never was the smartest thing to do in any situation; even if it was just a teenaged cape being all pissy… Actually, that was probably _doubly_ true when said teen being prissy was an Alexandria package with supposed anger issues.

So it was with that in mind that, as she continued her rant at me and I continued to ignore her, I ACTIVATED _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ and _looked_ at her.

The information gleaned by the ACTIVATED selection came quickly enough, far more quickly than it had the last time I'd used it in fact; and the picture it painted wasn't exactly pretty, and made me just a _little_ sympathetic toward her.

But only a little, thanks to the selection it was clear enough that she wasn't _quite_ telling the full truth about being given permission by the principal to be on the roof and that she was also having just a generally bad day. And soon enough though I let _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ DEACTIVATE when it started giving me non-relevant info.

"-get out of here before I report you." Beside her, Amy looked to her sister and frowned before shifting uncomfortably.

I just narrowed my eyes at the blond and continued to stare at her. Ok, she may have had reasons for being in a bad mood, however; having a bad day or no, that was no reason to be a bitch. Especially to someone you've never met before, "Yeah," I drawled, intentionally dragging the word out, "how about _no_. There wasn't a sign saying no one could be up here so how about you just chill and toss rocks, _Barbie_."

Nostrils flaring, she opened her mouth but I preemptively cut off what was likely to be another lengthy- and this time indignant -tirade, fortunately I knew just the thing to shut her up; no thanks to some of Assaults stories about her. "And you know, flying up here like that in a skirt was awfully indecent," I deadpanned. "You probably flashed your panties to half the school."

Face reddening, she dropped eye level to land on the roof with a crunch of gravel; and looking down to her I saw she was holding her skirt shut as she glared up at me. In fact, she looked so indignation it wouldn't have surprised me had steam started coming out of her ears until her sister touched her arm and drew her attention away from me.

A whispered conversation between the two of them soon had Victoria apologizing before lifting off and flying toward the city. I looked after her before turning back to Amy who was flattening out a section of the gravel a little ways away; glancing up at me as she pulled off her backpack and took out a book before sitting down on it.

Minutes past in silence and in that time _THE STOIC_ DEACTIVATED on its own, I went back to reading, and had nibbled my way through a granola bar. And all the while I could feel Amy's eyes on me every few seconds, I knew- or at least strongly suspected -the cause through. Me.

Past and personal experience told me that having someone basically looking over your shoulder wasn't the most comfortable thing. So grudgingly, for the sake of not feeling her constantly looking at me if anything, I grabbed my things before dropping down to the rooftop and sat down in the shade AC unit as I returned to reading.

Only another minute or so passed before my roof partner spoke up.

"I- I'm sorry about her acting like that. She just broke up with her boyfriend again."

I looked over the top of my book to Amy, who was looking right back at me; her face downcast and apologetic.

"Yeah well she was being a bit of a bitch, and if I had to guess you guys aren't really supposed to be up here either. Otherwise you wouldn't have flown up." I met the other girl's eyes until she looked away and nodded,

"You're right. I mean we can technically use it for if we have to leave on family business if we have to but-" Suddenly stopping, she sat up, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm-"

"Amy Dallon," Interjected, and the other girl's face turned down before perking back up. "Yeah I know who you are. Kinda hard not to. And I'm Taylor, Taylor Hebert."

Nodding jerkily she looked away and I looked back down at my book, but my attention was drawn back to Amy not a few moments later.

"Can I ask you a question?"

I looked back up to her and nodded.

"Why did you call my sister 'Barbie'?"

Blinking, I flipped my book shut- with my thumb holding my place - and tapped it against my thigh to make a show of thinking about her question.

 _I_ knew why I'd called her that, but I couldn't exactly give _that_ particular reason since revealing that Assault had told me the name annoyed her would just be opening one big unnecessary can of worms.

"Well… I guess it seemed like a good insult at the time." I absently gestured at the air, "I mean she's tall, blond, pretty, popular, what have you. It just seemed to fit, and I figured it would piss her off."

"You were _trying_ to upset her?" Amy asked, her eyebrows raised incredulously.

"Yeah no offense, but she was being a bit of a bitch. With how she was acting she kinda deserved it."

She frowned at that, but at the same time she didn't refute it. "I see, well again I'm sorry for her acting like that… and I'm sorry if her Aura got to you, she tries to keep it in check but when she gets like that… well, sorry."

"Her... Aura?" I asked. Assault had mentioned it in passing before, and that it was annoying, but he hadn't really gone into detail about it.

Looking at me askance for a second, Amy just gave her head a little shake. "Its… something to do with her power. It temporarily makes people fear or be inspired by her. I- I mean it's not dangerous or anything but… did you not feel anything?"

Huh, so Glory Girls 'Aura' affected people's perception of her did it… well at least I knew _THE STOIC_ worked against it, and it ACTIVATING on its own was probably just one of those quirks I still didn't understand. Me not showing a reaction to it though probably wasn't a good thing. But ultimately there wasn't anything I could do about it after the fact and simply shrugged in response before flipping open my book.

"Um… I was wondering about something you said," Amy asked just a bit later, and looking up from my book she continued once she saw she had my attention. "You said something about your old school? Does that mean you're the new transfer?"

Sighing, I nodded as I set my book aside and shuffled back against the AC unit. I'd just wanted some alone time but that probably wasn't going to happen without being rude about it; and that wouldn't work at all, not when I might end up interacting with the girl across from me in the future. "Yeah that's me, you heard about that huh."

Leaning back she smiled "Usually when we get transfers mid semester its almost always because there's a new ward," She shrugged, pretty much confirming the theory the wards all went to Arcadia. "So yeah, news of you got around pretty quick. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go before?"

"Winslow," I answered and quickly held up a hand to forestall what had likely been just another variant of what I'd been asked already. "And yes, before you ask, the rumors about it are probably all true. I can pretty much confirm that it is a complete shithole."

Her mouth open in an 'O,' she slowly closed it and smiled. "I was actually going to ask why you transferred."

Flushing a little, I was saved from answering her question by the arrival of Victoria; only this time it was without _THE STOIC_ ACTIVATING on its own, which probably meant she'd calmed down. Glancing over to her I saw her absently patting down her skirt, a new bag with the red, ice cream bowl Baskin-Robbins logo on its side. And turning to me with an apologetic expression, she dug into the bag.

+X+X+X+X+

Amy and Victoria Dallon... Not quite what I had been expecting. Looking away from their retreating forms as they headed down the hallway, I stared down at my generous bowl of cookie dough ice cream before promptly stabbing the little plastic spoon that had come with it into the frozen dairy product.

Bringing the little spoon up I slowly, ponderously, licked at the scoop of treat.

Delicious, it had been way too long since I'd had good cookie anything. It just hadn't really happened. But, if anything, Victoria certainly knew how to apologize for being rude to someone. That was for sure.

Maybe I'd been wrong about her.

Turning on my heel though I headed toward my next class, and ACTIVATING _AUTOPILOT_ with just a thought I considered the new selections that had appeared within my rolodex while I'd been talking with Amy and Victoria.

Several, as expected and to my eternal frustration, were blacked out. But two of them that weren't looked rather promising, if potentially even more frustrating.

Default, a selection that could return me to my 'base' form… whatever that meant. And while it wasn't blacked out, I wasn't able to interact with it besides organizing it in my rolodex.

Then there was _BARRIER WARRIOR_ , which admittedly at first glance was a bit weak on its own- what with its one hit take down, but it gave me ideas about how to maybe use it in tandem my fancy new shield.

Noticing I'd reached my destination, I DEACTIVATED _AUTOPILOT_ ;and regaining control, I peeked into my Biology classroom to see if the teacher was in. But seeing the darkened lights and only the sun illuminating the black soapstone topped lab tables I just crossed to the other side of the hall; and leaning against the lockers I extracted my book and began to read while I waited.

* * *

ORIG NOTE: ALso I totally just realized Arcadia didn't have a uniform so… yeah. And this actually bugged me so, as happens most times, I researched it and there are a surprising number of public schools that have uniforms. So I decided to just go with it and use the prevention of gang colors being shown as an excuse. Not that that kind of thing really works too well in reality but it would be a legitimate reason.

Edit: if problem I may change it, kinda bugging me in retrospect

Note: I also binged john oliver so ttw guesses where the start was inspired from

Note: and here we introduce , history teacher extraordinaire.

note: AND THE LIKES ARE OVER 10000! IT FEELS GLORIOUS!

Note: and ugh, school

Note: ugh, not entirely happy with this.

Edit: note happy with this at all

Note: the reason there are so many notes is cuz I add them while writing, and since i've been writing this off and on the past week there are a lot of notes.

BUT! FORTUNATELY! Past all that unfortunate crap with this chap I've cleared a roadblock thats been keeping me from working on the next bit that ive been looking forward to. So yay.


	26. Chapter 26

Trope

#26

* * *

"I usually don't do this you know, and how did your friend even know I was interested in being a fashion designer anyway?"

"She's not exactly my friend," I muttered while sipping at my tea and peeking across the the cheap patio table I'd scrounged up at the paper Parian was sketching on, "and unfortunately that's her thing, knowing things."

Stopping, Parian glanced up at me through the eye holes of her doll mask as she flipped her pencil around and removed a section of her sketch before starting anew. "Then why in the world, would she go through the trouble of hiring me for this if she's not your friend."

Briefly, I considered the girl across from me before setting my cup down and grabbing the teapot off the small camping stove and pouring some more of the gold colored mint green tea into my cup. "Its because she's trying to curry favor with me."

Humming noncommentally, Parian simply continued working on her sketch and I waited for my tea to cool a bit and I hooked the handle in a loose grip before raising it.

Blowing lightly over the surface of the tea, I took a slow sip before setting it back down and looking out at the bay; the noon day sun reflecting off in places as it slowly crept toward the horizon. The spot we were at was probably one of the better locations I'd found and set up a stash spot at while taking a break from my homework and when not patrolling.

Situated on the roof of a defunct and abandoned- but stable -shipping facility it was one of the better positioned properties as it sat between the docks and the boardwalk. Part of the so called 'neutral' area of the city.

But thinking back to Parians comment I smirked as the still fresh Memory of Lisa rambling on the rooftop popped into the fore. "Well, _that_ ," I absently continued. "And she strongly thought I should get a more consistent costume."

Hearing Parian make a noise of understanding, I turned back to her as she flipped back several pages to consult what she'd drawn before flipping back to the page she'd been on, looked at it, then flipped to a new page and started sketching. She continued like that for several minutes before finally speaking. "Well, I can see where she's coming from and I agree. From what you told and showed me you've really just been throwing things together, you don't have a truly _distinctive_ look. Nothing really _consistent_."

Stopping, she looked up from her sketch; her dark eyes staring out at me from behind the eyeholes of her mask. "And that's the thing," she said, her voice growing animated. "Your Image, your appearance, your style- they all affect how you are perceived. There are clear paradigms of design that have emerged for both Heroes and Villains," she suddenly gestured next to the table, where I'd dropped my bag of clothes that I'd been wearing while going out as Indominus. "Darker toned costumes, like what you prefer, are statistically more often than not taken as an indicator that the person wearing them is a SuperVillain."

This time she gestured to her sketchbook and shook her head, "The design cues you gave me, they would probably _never_ pass the PRT's member costume criteria. I mean there are exceptions, capes like Shadow Stalker where the dark look just _works_. But people like her are more the exception than the rule."

"Don't forget about Alexandria," I quickly added, the image of one of my favorite childhood heros popping up; clad in her dark bodysuit and cape. "Her costume it just pretty much just black with shades of grey."

"And she's part of the Triumvirate," Parian continued, "like I said, exceptions. But yeah, the Media and PRT usually don't like Heroes with darker themed costumes since they're usually perceived as not being as photogenic or approachable."

"And sorry for going off like that, I'm...I'm taking classes and it's something I'm really interested in," the other girl muttered, the embarrassment rich in her voice as she went back to her sketching.

Letting out a huff of amusement, I took a sip of my tea before setting it back down and slowly turning the cup. "Its not a problem," and it wasn't, as it gave me a bit more of a grasp on what she was like and re-emphasized that she actually enjoyed what she did. She was lucky that her power and her passion coincide so well.

But also it just reminded me of one of the other reasons I had no desire to join the rank of the Wards, or even the Protectorate once I reached the age. The way their members were intentionally hobbled like they were by basic public perception… Simply irresponsible.

However, what Parian had said about being consistent and having a distinctive appearance _did_ give me an idea. It was somewhat asinine in the way it did it, but it _would_ technically make me consistent and distinctive.

"Well you know, speaking of the PRT and the Media they can't exactly take photos of me so I'm actually getting tempted to just start wearing something different just to frustrate them... What would you think of making me other outfits?"

Just as I finished my intentionally offhand comment and question Parian stilled, her hand jerking across the paper.

"I mean, having an inconsistent costume is still being consistent and it would certainly be distinctive," I continued. "And besides that I have my sunglasses and sword, those are starting to be consistent at least. Not to mention the things I wear are usually just as invulnerable as I am." Slowly, my lips spread into my Mad Girl Grin[™] as the idea took root and I looked from the corner of my eye to Parian.

She was just staring at me, an air of exasperation about her. But slowly, she cocked her head and looked me up at down; her eyes tracing over my relaxed form before looking back to her sketchbook and flipped to the front the book.

+X+X+X+X+

Fortunately the meetup with Parian hadn't taken all _too_ long and after we finished up the preliminary stuff I was able to get down to the docks to meet up with Rachel as she was getting off work. It had only been a few day since I'd started at Arcadia and only a few days since she'd started working an honest- albeit under the table -job and so far she'd had similar amounts of success that I'd had.

There had been rough spots of course- one worker or another saying the wrong thing that she interpreted incorrectly -and she still wasn't the most sociable person after all, but it had worked out well enough. Though there hadn't been any incidents like what had happened on her first day, or at least major ones.

However, that didn't mean things had been all peachy keen. Over the last few days the cold detant that had been going on between the gangs of the city was beginning to quickly warm with the absence of Lung. And while the E88 had yet to make _too_ many overt moves into ABB turf aside for a few notable skirmishes with Oni Lee, the Merchants were much more brazen and had displaced the asian gang from several areas of the city.

Unfortunately, those parts of the city included the The Docks Area.

So it partly for that reason that I was here at Rachel's Kennel today, holding a thick, heavy duty chain in hand as I watched Rachel slowly wrapped the rest of it around a white and brown spotted Boxer.

Bullet, Rachel had said her name was.

Apparently, due to the amount of distance she'd been covering while patrolling, she needed another dog that could keep up; so she was to be the next member of Rachel's pack. The only problem was that Bullet had a bad shoulder blade from when she'd been used in one of the local underground dog fighting rings. But that was where I came in.

Although… "Are you sure you're ok to do another?"

To her, my asking that was essentially questioning her strength; something that Lisa had warned against. But it was a serious question, and Rachel had reason enough to realize that as she blinked sluggishly and was almost falling over she was so tired from using her power; both over the course of the day and since we'd come to the kennel to heal the dogs that had needed it.

But she was being stubborn about getting this last dog healed before we could head back home… Home, home was now home for her as well since she'd come back from wherever she'd been staying with a large duffle bag in hand the night before last.

It was temporary, maybe; but she was welcome as a resident of the Hebert house as long as she need to be. And, of course, so long as she behaved herself.

Rachel just grunted, exhaling heavily as she pushed herself to her feet and stepped back from the now bound dog. "Yeah. She's smart, she's a hunting breed and she's fast. I need her speed. Are you ready?"

Nodding to her, I eyed the dog as it began to swell; the dogs lean form quickly swelling, muscles rippling under its skin until the chains were tight against her.

Speed huh, so far, from what I'd seen, Rachel's regular dogs when in there meat suits could run at speeds that just about on par with a _car_. If she wanted speed though, when _that_ was the baseline, then I could only wonder just how fast Bullet would be able to go once healed.

Somehow I figured she would be a cut above the grade.

And as I watched her tug a little at her chains, I was given an example that she was exceptional in another way; as shaking her head, she let out a little, pitiful and heart breaking whine before spread her legs and dropped to the bare concrete of Rachel's Kennel. And she laid there, whining in pain but not lashing out, her eyes looking back and forth between Rachel and I.

She was controlled, calm, wheres all the other dogs before her had fought and gotten somewhat violent with the change- which was the entire reason for the chain in the first place as Rachel had revealed when explaining the process more in depth -she just silently took it and kept herself in check.

Slowly, I approached the dog while keeping the same amount of slack- or lack of -on the chain. Off the the side Rachel warned me to stop, but crouching down next to the dog I held my fingers out for her to smell. And after her tongue snaked out to give my palm a quick kiss I reached up to slowly scratched between her eyes, running my fingers along a groove that had only been exaggerated by her growth.

Blinking up at me, she slowly closed her watery eyes and just huffed; then in the next moment let out a low whimper as her bad shoulder spammed.

"Is this part of the boost you gave me?"

Glancing back I saw Rachel was now standing over me, the semi Hulking forms of Brutus and Judas at her side; ready to protect their master if Bullet moved to attack.

I shrugged. "Couldn't really say but I don't think so, the other dogs had to be held down after all… maybe she can just handle it better? What do you think?"

Not responding for a long moment, Rachel moved to Bullets flank and knelt down while Brutus and Judas took up positions on either side of the chained dog; and reaching out, she ran her hand over the taut white and brown spotted fur. "I think your reckless."

Ah, Rachel. Refreshingly blunt as usual.

"Yeah well... yeah. Getting thrown through buildings and stuff can do that to you."

Flashing a grin at Rachel I saw her just staring blankly back, obviously not impressed.

Before I could say something else though, a muffled Chirp-Chirp sounded out from inside one of my jackets pockets- the surplus one I'd picked up the other day that had so many awesome pockets -and I stood to take it. Although, finding it was something a challenge and I had to check half my pockets in order to simplify _find_ it. Something I should probably think on later.

Mashing the accept mutton I put the receiver to my ear and walked a little ways away for privacy. "Indominus here."

"Hey," a girls voice rang out, "I've got a lead on an incoming Empire shipment for the next few days. You want me to follow up- Oh, you're with Rachel right now aren't you?"

Lisa, right on time; and of course her power would work well enough to know where I was just by the sounds around me. "Yes, I'm with her right now."

"Ok, well since you're with her can you tell her to keep an eye out?" She asked, "The Boss isn't too happy she bailed like she did. Not really sure what he thinks about her freelancing though."

Keeping my expression neutral, I looked over my shoulder and watched as the other girl comforted Bullet; while all the while Brutus and Judas were looming over her, ready to intervene. Those two could protect her well enough, but could they protect her from someone like Coil if he came after her for leaving?

Grimacing at the thought, I turned and walked a little farther away, "I'll let her know and see what I can do."

The other end of the line was quiet, the white noise and the breathing on the other end of the line the only noise for a long moment. "Thanks, and do you want me to follow up on that lead?"

Nodding to myself I opened my mouth and was about to respond when a slot suddenly appeared next to my rolodex. I stopped, watching it and waiting for it to disappear. It didn't.

"Yeah," I muttered, bringing up _MULTITASKER_ and ACTIVATING it to split my focus between the call and observing the slot. "Look into it and let me know what you find."

The hissing intake of breath came through from the other end, "Shit, something just came up didn't it?"

"Yeah, you just focus on your project though. Nothing to worry about." Shifting my weight from side to side I flicked my gaze about the unfinished building that was the kennel.

Lisa was grumbling and muttering on the other end of the line for a minute before she sighed. "Fine, I'll let you know what I find. And good luck."

With that Lisa disconnected, leaving a dull droning coming out of the receiver but that quickly cut off as the connection was cut. I kept the phone to my ear though and slowly turned about while absently nodding, as if I was still on the line while simultaneously checking that the slot was still there but that a selection hadn't decided to appear in it. None had, fortunately.

There were a number of things I'd already learned in the few days I'd been at Arcadia, however; the three main things so far were that the teachers really were competent, Winslow didn't have a monopoly on teenaged girls that thought too much of themselves, and that the range in which a slot would appear grew with every one that was already present.

It had been a bit of a surprise at first when I'd realized it, but it was something I'd been able to actually measure after focusing on it by surreptitiously using Amy and Victoria as a first and second slot. They were a known factor after all and all I'd had to do was approach one when no other slots had been present until one of them had been in range.

It had been through that that I'd learned that my initial detection range wasn't very, maybe somewhere between five to ten meters; but with the addition of one slot that distance got bumped up to somewhere between fifteen fifteen and thirty. On the _exact_ distance though I wasn't entirely sure.

What the meant however, was that meant whoever I was picking up was relatively close by and in my general area.

Slowly, I turned in another circle; looking to all the gaps that looked into the building and seeing which were large enough for me to easily _step_ through. And stopping, I stared hard at an unfinished section of wall that looked big enough.

Making a show of saying goodbye and putting the phone it back into one of my pockets I looked over my shoulder. "Hey Rache."

Looking up the other girl caught my eye, "I gotta go check on something out, be back in a minute."

And without waiting for a response from the other girl I pulled _SPEED BLITZ_ to the top of my selection, ACTIVATED it, and _stepped_.

* * *

Note: I do not like the last chap… but sigh, Functionally it works as intended but I think Ill revisit it to see what can be done

Note:Also, its supposed to be Wednesday but somehow it ended up that I didn't want to just say that… but did it come out ok? Ultimately wasn't sure on the few days skip but I didn't particularly want to do another school chap at the moment.

Note: also, fuck textbook prices. They be just redonckulous… although I guess its usefull when your Asian Hist teacher has a more limited vocabulary than the average writer… sigh. FML.


	27. Chapter 27

Narrowing my eyes in frustration, I glared after Shadow Stalkers dark form as it dispersed into a cloud of black particles and disappeared through a wall. Bitch.

"No~," I sneered in an obnoxiously snidely impersonation of Stalker, "you're just a little kid Vista so you can't come with me. Now you go be a good girl and stick to nice and safe patrol route."

Grimacing in distaste at the impersonation, I briefly considered going after her but didn't, knowing it would just lead to nothing good.

Really though, she was part of the team but why did she have to be such… such a _bitch_.

So simply sighing in resignation so as not to get worked up about it, I turned away from the direction my fellow Ward had taken and looked toward the rooftops on the other side of the street. Concentrating for a moment, I compressed the space between it and I, and stepped onto it. Crossing the thirty foot gap with ease, I began taking stock of the area around me as my power formed up a map of the area for what I could effect.

There were gaps of course. People, animals and the like appeared as empty distortions in the map. It was rather annoying and made things imprecise while also slowing down what I could do thanks to the manton limit.

However, despite those limitations, the sensory capability it gave was an incredibly useful boon for patrolling. Oh if only I had a patrolling partner that could capitalize on it easier than I could. And case in point, just a little bit into the route and barely past the boardwalk, I watched closely as a distortion at the mouth of an alley moved out onto a mostly empty street. Then, once it connected with another distortion that had been on the sidewalk to create a larger distortion, it moved back to the alley; albeit at a somewhat slower pace.

What I'd observed could have been a number of things, a few of which I _really_ preferred not to think about. _Usually_ though, what it meant was that a mugger had just grabbed someone... And that was one of the better of the bad options.

Narrowing my eyes, I concentrated to compress space and crossed the few streets until I was on the street while all the while keeping an eye on the large distortion. And when it suddenly twisted to separate into two smaller ovoids, one of which sped toward the mouth of the alley while the other quickly followed.

My suspicions were confirmed.

Taking ahold of space like only I could, I stretched, bent and contorted the distance between the two distortions into a quagmire of a mobius loop. Not my _best_ work and it wouldn't last long without my attention, but it would do the job and gave me time enough to get myself down to street level. And just as space snapped back to normal, I stepped into the mouth of the alley and into the would be muggers path.

Seeing them with my own two eyes, seeing the haggard and disheveled state of himself and his clothes, I felt a little sympathy for the would be mugger as I saw that he was one of the cities innumerable homeless. But nonetheless, standing as tall as I could I raised my hand, palm out, "Halt!"

It worked and he skidded to a stop, a second later however; he turned tail and fled back down the alley. He only made it a few meters before I took hold of the space around him and abused it as I had before but to a greater degree. Usually such things didn't last long without constant correction, but combined with the loop he'd been in earlier he didn't last fifteen seconds before falling onto his hands and knees to empty his stomach over the alleyway.

Grimacing in distaste as the putrid scent wafted toward me, I pressed my finger to my earbud and called for a police pickup. Fortunately, it didn't take long for a squad car to come by and pick the man up before he tried to escape a second time. _Usually_ it wasn't that simple, but then again, the sad majority of the homeless the Wards dealt with tended to be with Merchants.

They and some of their sales methods… well, generally said they weren't quite liked among the local prison populations. And that particular fact was known to them since a good number of them had been in there before.

Sadly though my particular method of containment wasn't exactly appreciated by the officers as he'd thrown up all over himself. But, one statement later and an 'it was my pleasure' to the would have been victim and I was back on the rooftops; making my way along my route with a metaphorical skip in my step.

However, as a short line of distortion tore through my mental map, all self satisfied thoughts were wiped away as I stopped and snapped my head in the direction the line had ended at. Some dozen rooftops away there was a flash of dark green fabric on top of a large air-conditioning unit, then the figure was gone and another line of distortion cut through my power made map.

Frowning, I momentarily considered calling in to request permission to investigate it.

But even as I thought it I discarded the idea, as off in the distance I saw the figure appear again before another line of distortion took it to the very outer limits of my mental map. So making a snap decision I ran toward the roofs edge, my skirt fluttering around my knees as I leapt out into the air; and quickly compressing space, I crossed several streets in one leap I followed after the distortion.

* * *

Slowly but surely, I'd gained on the distortion. Technically speaking it was faster, it could zigzag across the rooftops like it was nothing and didn't seem limited like I was with the Manton Effect. But paying attention to it, watching how far it went between 'jumps,' it quickly became apparent that it was limited in that it could only go so far each time it appeared. It was there that I had the advantage in that I could cover larger distances at a time when possible, and was that that allowed me keep pace while we leapfrogged across the city; cutting an almost straight line toward The Docks. But more specifically, toward the large swath of it that Indominus had destroyed in the process of taking down Lung.

By that point I was _well_ outside my assigned patrol route, yes. But I'd already gone this far, so _unless_ I wanted to leave without something to show for it- as well as satisfying my curiosity -I may as well see things through.

Letting space decompress behind me, I took a moment to catch my breath and wiped a thin layer of sweat off my forehead before crouching down to creep toward the edge of the rooftop while my power began forming a map of the area. Oh yeah, trailing after the distortion and having to play catch up a few times had been an exercise. Definitely ranking in the top ten most strenuous times I'd had to use my power.

Finally though, I could get a closer look at who had caught my attention; and raising my head to peek over the roofs raised edge, I looked out at what must have been the staging area for the cleanup. I'd occasionally seen and helped out at such places in the aftermath of Endbringer attacks; the neatly organized piles of rubble, twisted metal, and burnt wood a familiar sight. Although the small car lot filled with sedans and trucks was different, usually the roads weren't in any condition for regular vehicle travel.

And scattered about the area were a good number of men and women in blue jeans, shirts and boots or some combination thereof; most either packing up tools or talking in small groups. Among them all however, the most likely source of the distortions stuck out like Waldo thanks to her enormous black sword. Indominus.

Sitting on a pile of broken bricks and concrete with an overly large green jacket tucked under her, she was speaking with slight man when an echoing bark suddenly echoed over area. Instincts honed by too many close encounters with dogs, I automatically looked toward the sound and saw two particularly _large_ dogs come running into the clean up area.

By themselves, they weren't all that notable despite their size. But then the third came plodding into the open on heavy paws, and _it_ wasn't 'normal.' Not by any stretch of the word.

Massive, it the size of a small sedan with thick muscles that bulged beneath the fur with patches of white bone spikes and scales scattered about on its flank ,legs and back. If I hadn't known better I'd have thought it a movie monster, but I _did_ know better thanks to a team briefing only days before. And it was thanks to that same meeting that I was able to recognize the maskless girl sitting astride the dogs back. Rachel Lindt, _Hellhound_.

Narrowing my eyes, watched her enter the cleanup area I raised my hand to my earbud to contact the Console. But taking a snap glance at Indominus and seeing her calmly patting the thick head of one of the more normal sized dogs I hesitated, and glancing around the lot saw that no one else was panicking as the Villain and her mount entered their midst.

I decided to hold off and watch, adopting a wait and see approach as the Villain known to have _killed_ in the past rode her dog-monster through the place like it was no big deal… But maybe it wasn't, and with the way people were waving to her as she passed by it really didn't seem like it was. In fact, nobody even seemed to _care_ as she made her to Indominus.

Something definitely wasn't adding up here. During the briefing, they'd all been told that Indominus had some sort of grudge against the Undersiders- the B-rank group of villains that Hellhound belonged to and had taken down one of her dog-monsters like it was nothing.

What I was actually seeing though? That contradicted that information completely, and could only watch in confusion as Hellhound dismounted her dog monster and began talking to the other girl. Shrugging and gesturing a few times throughout the conversation, she suddenly turned toward the man while reaching into her jacket and again I tensed. But again I held off, watching as she handed him what looked like an envelope before turning back to Indominus.

From there my confusion at what I was seeing only deepened as he walked off, leaving the two capes to talk for a moment before making to leave; Indominus pulling her sword from the pile of rubble and Hellhound remounting her dog monster. _Together_ , they left the cleanup area. Moving at a sedate pace down a street that led deeper into the docks with the smaller dogs walking ahead of them.

Narrowing my eyes in consternation, I stared after them for a long moment before shifting my attention to the tall man that had been talking with Indominus. Following his path through the staging area toward the car lot, I watched him walk up to a wood bulletin board covered in papers and a large box. And taking the envelop he'd gotten from Hellhound, he slid it into the box for a moment before sliding it into a rack of other slips next to it.

No... not an envelope, a time card, and the box had been a time clock. Just like the ones used in old movies.

Confusion growing to the point of frustration, I ducked away from the roofs edge and walked to the other side of the roof where the visual effects of my power couldn't be seen. And compressing space between buildings I began circling around so I could follow after the two Parahumans that by all means _shouldn't_ be associating.

Indominus, by all accounts, was _supposedly_ a hard ass on villains and the crime going on in the city. Seeing her with someone like Hellhound though… that just didn't add up.

There was probably an entirely reasonable explanation for what I'd seen, the thing with time card at least pointed to Hellhound doing something non-villainous. It wouldn't really the first I'd heard about such a thing, low time Villains doing part timing as Rogues wasn't anything new and rumor was that Uber occasionally worked at the local hospitals on occasion. But that was Uber, someone who was practically a joke villain and this was Hellhound, someone who'd _killed_ in the past.

As much as I doubted its likelihood, I couldn't help but unconsciously go toward the worst case scenario... I couldn't help but ask myself if it had all been an act, if Indominus had just been playing nice.

Indominus had _claimed_ to be amenable to cooperating with the PRT and Protectorate; she'd even come in to register as an Independent Hero. On the other hand though, the Director had ordered that any capes who encountered her return to the PHQ immediately; and if that announcement hadn't set off all sorts of warning bells for her and the rest of the wards she didn't know what did.

But again, that was her just going coming to the worst possible conclusion and for all I knew the PRT was well aware of Indominus and Hellhound interacting and they hadn't made it known. As it was, there was little chance they weren't aware of the Villain being connected in some way to the clean up site. She'd had a _time card_ of all things- if that's what it really was -and it wasn't as if her power was discrete or anything.

Unfortunately following the duo from a distance didn't help clear things up any either; and when they entered an unfinished factory or warehouse of some sort things just became even _more_ confusing as a cacophony of barking erupted from within it.

Sighing, I dropped onto a mushroom shaped roof vent some distance from the building and considered what to do, what I knew and what I'd seen… And I drew a blank.

In this instance, the sensory aspect of power was pretty much useless; drawing a near blank on what was going on in the building. I could 'feel' the perimeter for the most part, however the vast majority of the interior space 'unseeable' due to a large number of distortions, many of which were moving around. Judging by the barking though, I was reasonably certain that the mass was. A _lot_ of dogs.

From the briefing on the Undersiders, we'd found out that Hellhound had a tendency to take in dogs. Be they ones from the pound that no one wanted, strays, or from the occasional dog fighting ring. Apparently, I'd just found where she was keeping them all. But that didn't tell me much and because of the 'rules' I couldn't really do much with it.

Eventually though, after sitting there for far longer than I should have, I got tired of waiting and thinking in circles was getting me nowhere. As it was, I was lucky Console hadn't checked in on me. So standing up, I stretched a little before compressing the space between me and a rooftop a few buildings away. Thus re-positioned, I began looking over the makeshift kennel for a way to see inside.

Unfortunately, it was when a line of distortion lanced out from the warehouse and to a nearby rooftop that I realized I _may_ have made a mistake. I didn't even have time to make a move or compress space to get away before another line cut through to the center of my mental map. To _me_.

At least I was proud to say that the hand suddenly clamping down my shoulder and the girl's voice in my ear only made me scream a _little_.

"So… See anything interesting, Kid Cthulhu?"

* * *

Note: You thought it was someone like Coil, Bakuda or even Oni Lee. But no, it was I, Missy!

Note:Also to my eternal shame this somewhat shaped my initial reasoning for missy going off her route. .

NOte: TIS TRUE! IT LIVES! AND FUCK FINALS TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL! Well, ive got winter session off so aside from moving in the next few weeks I'll have time to work on this again. And thanks again to those that volunteered to help beta for me... sorry I diddnt get you guys anthing though, energy had to kinda be diverted.

Note:Thanks [USER=109901]Grist[/USER] Quantumsheepery [USER=311036]Gentle Jovian[/USER] and [USER=307028]vyor[/USER] for the input on missy. Ultimately I decided that since the wards are most likely not patrolling near the docks due to the escalating gang tensions then they wouldn't have been briefed- at least not yet -about Rachel being with Taylor. At least that's the reasoning I came up with. Also went with a black and whitish missy that can see shades of grey. Like with the comparison with Uber. He's a villain but one that hasn't done much, where's Rachel is Lethal. Hopefully I got her characterization alright(ish).


	28. Chapter 28

God this was a pain in the ass. And to make it worse about half of this was done the night after the last chap and this isnt even all that I had planed. Sigh. Getting things just right(first mistake) wasnt working so I set it asside (second mistake) and had a number of different versions of this that eventually got pieced together (third mistake).

Trying to find a balance between lecture and non lecture, Realist and Idealist Vista, tone... ugh. Still not quite happy with it and there are problems with it but down that path lies purgatory.

Anyway, here we go.

Trope

#28

* * *

Standing over Vista as I was, I couldn't see much of her face simply due to the angle. From what I _could_ see however, her face was slowly turning pink; whether that was due to being caught or embarrassment at the nickname I wasn't sure.

I gently squeezed her shoulder and smiled, "So, would you like to explain what you're doing here yourself, or should I get Miss Militia on the phone?"

The only warning I got was Vista's shoulder stiffening under my hand. It was only a moment but it was enough, and then the rooftop was twisting, folding in on itself in such a way that would have made M.C. Escher proud. Up became down, down became sideways and after only a few seconds of it my stomach decided it wanted in on the fun as well. I kept my lunch down however, and keeping my hold on Vista's shoulder I _stepped._

The gravel crunched and ground beneath my boots as I stumbled, my center of gravity going head over heels for a moment before re-settling. Unpleasant, and fortunately I managed to swallow my lunch down in time as my stomach rebelled once more. Vista on the other hand... she wasn't so lucky, and letting go of her shoulder I gently gathered her long brown hair back as she fell onto all fours and emptied her stomach onto the rooftop.

My lip curling at the retching and acrid scent rising, I dug into one of my jacket's many pockets and set down a bottle of water next to her right hand. After almost a minute of further gagging, heaving and spitting the younger girl grabbed the water bottle, and letting go of her hair I watched as she staggered away to lean up against a rusted over ventilation system. With a shaky hand she practically tore off the cap and began alternating between chugging down water, swishing, and spitting to clear the taste from her mouth.

While she was doing that, I warily eyed the spot where we'd been. In particular, the distortion her power had caused. For a few moments it was like looking at an old piece of old timey handmade glass, the way it twisted and warped what I was seeing automatically bringing up the memory of visiting an old plantation in middle school.

Then it was gone, space straightening out and the distortion disappearing as if it had never been there in the first place. Scary.

She wasn't the most senior of the East North East Wards' for nothing it seemed. But if she could do something like that _now_? Well, I could only wonder what she could be capable with even more experience under her belt. I glanced back to the girl as she took a sip of water and spat into the small pool of water that had formed at her side. She was still shaking a little, but not much- though her skin was a little pale and she seemed to be regaining her breath.

"So," I mused, drawing out the word as I shifted my weight and put a hand on my hip as Vista stiffened. "The way I see it you have two options."

I held up one hand, palm up. "Option A: We have a civil conversation about this." I shifted my weight again and raised my other hand, "Or we can go with option B: I call up Miss Militia and let her know what you were up to."

Simply staring at me for a long moment, Vista finished off the rest of the bottle and slowly wiped her mouth against her dress-like costume's sleeve.

She stalled, as was to be somewhat expected and I couldn't really begrudge her for it; but the trick was on her since I used the time to shift _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ to the top of my selection. Ready to be ACTIVATED with just a thought if need be.

Eventually though, after a maybe of minute of staring at each other, she grimaced and spat to the side. " _Or_ , we could go with Option C: And you just let me go," she countered.

So it would be the Assault path of attack then.

Slowly, I looked pointedly from one hand to the other before clicking my tongue, "See, I only have two hands so that's not really an option and you _really_ don't have any room to bargain here." I shook my head and let my hands fall, "As things stand and the way I see it, I found you hiding out and watching what could have been a cape's personal residence." I cocked my head at the younger girl, "I'm also gonna go out on a limb and say that you aren't supposed to be out here, are you?"

It wasn't hard to see the truth of what I'd guessed as she shifted slightly. Uncomfortably, if I ?

" _Or_ we go with Option C," she pressed, her voice tight. "We both go our own way. You don't say anything about me being here, and I don't say anything about you assosciating with a known villain."

My lips quirked up unconsciously. She was stubborn, I would give her that, but I wouldn't be letting her off that easy. "I'm afraid that that option still isn't on the table."

Space around the other girl… _flexed_ for lack of a better word as Vista's hands clenched. "Why _not_?" She bit out.

I twitched my shoulders in a nonchalant shrug, " _Maybe_ , because I don't _care_ if you tell anyone about my interacting with Rache-" Biting my tongue I gave my head a little shake, now _that_ would be a bad habit to get into. Rachel was one thing, she didn't _have_ a secret identity- but still, other people _did_. "Sorry, _Hellhound,"_ I corrected.

Fortunately, Vista seemed to have missed my slip of the tongue and my response seemed to have caused a processing malfunction. Evidently it hadn't been _quite_ what she'd expected.

"But- but she's a Villain! And she's part of the Undersiders!"

"And." I asked, shrugging. "I'm afraid you're operating on outdated information on both fronts there. Try again."

For a few moments Vista sputtered, before her hands clenched once more- though without the non-euclidean geometry. " _She's killed people!"_

Sighing at the exclamation, I stooped down and picked up a piece of grey roof gravel and a few smaller pebbles- granite, if I wasn't mistaken. Then I began slowly rolling the pieces of stone between my palms, back and forth, back and forth while all the while applying constant pressure.

"That," I said once it seemed Vista was getting impatient, "is in the past." She visibly tensed but fortunately didn't interrupt. "I am not marginalizing the things she has done, nor am I justifying them. But understand, only when you've been where she's been and gone through what she's gone through can you criticise and judge her for them."

Stopping my hands momentarily, I lowered my head to look at her over my sunglasses. "There are extenuating circumstances to everyone's past, things that happen beyond anyone's control- and as much as some people like to think it does, the world doesn't exist in absolutes." I held there, cocking my head as I let my words sink in. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Vista was quiet for a long moment before she nodded.

I smiled and began rolling my hands again, "Good! Now, as to what I'm doing with her…" I glanced toward the Unions' staging site, "Well, like I said, your information is a bit outdated. She's not being a Villain if she has an honest job, now is she."

"It doesn't work like that, the law doesnt-"

"If you ask the right people the right questions, I think you will find that it actually _does_ work that way. It's even how the regular prison system is supposed to work." I grimaced, "At least in theory."

"So…" Trailing off, Vista looked back in the direction of the cleanup site, "you got her a job?"

"Most people turn to crime for a _reason_. If you can treat the cause, then you can cure the effect," I explained.

"So, like rehab," she said quietly after a long moment. There was something in her tone, something… somber, but it practically had a big sign that said PERSONAL over it so I left it alone and just nodded.

"In a sense. What she's doing now, it's honest work with honest pay that keeps her busy and gives her some work experience. It may not be _entirely_ legal due to her status, but with the economy as it is that type of thing can be overlooked when the time comes."

"She _is_ still wanted though," Vista pressed. "Even if she's not doing anything now- if either the PRT or Protectorate knew-"

"But they _do_ know though," I interjected. "Not about my association with her perhaps, but they _do_ know about her working protection for the cleanup workers- The PRT even stopped by a few days back when she was first starting off. Besides, there are a number of precedents for what I'm doing with her."

I let out a single, bitter laugh, "And really, right now, with everything going on?" I shook my head, "Right now the Police and your people are unwilling to commit forces to the workers' protection or are too tied up with everything going on with the gangs to help if someone came calling. Right now the 'Villain,' as you would call her, is their only protection as they work to put food on the table."

By the downturn of her lips it was clear enough that the notion that help _wouldn't come_ didn't sit well with her, but I continued before she could say anything. "As it stands right now, your people are more interested in restoring the status quo." I snorted and shook my head in disgust, "Not to mention that as the PRT sees it, with her working an honest job as she is, there's one less villain they may have to deal with."

Again, Vista automatically opened her mouth as if to refute what I'd said; but after a few moments of silence her shoulders slumped a little and she nodded in resignation. "I get it, Tthe status quo… is that why you don't want to join?"

I cocked my head and gave her a hard look. I wondered if she really did understand. Maybe, maybe not. But then again she was the most senior of the local wards after all so she couldn't be _completely_ blind to how things were.

"That… that is certainly a big part of it." Sighing I looked down and parted my hands to look at a now rounded piece of grey rock sitting in a bed of fine dust and sand. Dumping the leftover, I looked at the rock for a moment before tossing it to the other girl; her hand snapping out to catch the thing as I clapped my hands clean.

"It's rather presumptuous, but with what I can do? If I was forced to limit myself and pander to what people thought of me, if I was told- _ordered -_ to stay away from the kinds of things I can fight against?" Grimacing in distaste at the thought I shook my head, "I think that if I was in that type of situation, then… then I'm pretty sure I would just leave. Better to just bypass that bit of trouble entirely."

Vista was quiet for a few minutes after that, looking down and absently examining the rock in her hands. "Damn, It would have been nice to have another girl on the team."

I snorted, I couldn't help it. "What, and Shadow Stalker doesn't count?"

At the question, Vista's mouth pinched up in a grimace and she answered with a short, "No."

Briefly, an upset little girl with long brown hair and a slightly too wide mouth superimposed herself over Vista. Ah, now _that_ had been an interesting trip to the mall. Even being married to someone like Mom, Dad hadn't _quite_ known the kind of stubbornness a little girl with her mind set on something could put out when she set her mind to it.

I had to force myself not to snicker as I remembered the incident, for some reason I doubted Vista would have appreciated it all that much. "So, I take it you don't get along too well?"

"...No."

"That's unfortunate, and speaking of your fellow ward? Shouldn't you have a partner to patrol with you?"

Vista's mouth actually opened a touch as she seemed taken aback by the question and I sighed. "I see, well… I guess that works well enough to bring us back to my initial question. So, _again_ , what are you doing so far off your patrol route without a partner?"

"But- but that's so hypocritical!" The other girl exclaimed in indignation once she recovered, "What about what you just said about fighting!"

I grinned a shit eating grin at the younger girl and raised a finger. "Ah, but that was _me_ and this is _you_ , and you're considerably more squishy than I am."

"And you don't have a partner either!"

The grin stayed, which seemed to piss her off a little. "Again, you're squishy, and I'm not." I glanced to the kennel," And besides, if things work out with Hellhound then I won't have to worry about that."

"But-"

I held up a hand to cut her off while letting my grin slip away into stony blankness. Time to be a bitch about it. "You _do_ know how me finding you up here looks don't you?"

That seemed to bring a sudden halt to any indignation on Vista's part. Either the combination of the sudden topic shift, the near schizophrenic way I'd shifted the mood or my expression froze her up.

"You? A Ward? Here?" I inclined my head to the kennel. "Do you _realize_ how that could have looked to someone else? For all you knew that could have been where either Hellhound or I lived and from what it looked like you were staking the place out. If things had been different…"

Staring at her, waiting, I watched as she swallowed and her skin gained a slight sheen to it. I didn't need to use _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ to see that what I was saying had gotten through to her. Thankfully.

"I'm going to ask you one more time before I have to call Miss Militia about this." Reaching up I took off my glasses and looked her in the visor, "So _again_ , why are you so far off your patrol route."

"I…" Biting her lip Vista looked away, "I was following you."

I narrowed my eyes at the younger girl. Not as bad as it could have been as far as reasons went, but still bad. "Explain."

She fidgeted for a moment and I thought for a moment she would pull a runner, but she continued anyway. "It was your mover power. While I was patrolling I caught a glimpse of your jacket and I… when you were moving it felt different and I thought you may have been a new parahuman."

"I see, and when I was _stepping_ I felt 'Different'?"

She nodded, "Different."

I eyed the girl but she kept mum on the details and I decided not to push her about it. Specifics with her powers, that wasn't something for me to pry into. However, broadly speaking hers was supposed to be spacial manipulation of some flavor. Could my _stepping_ have some functional relation?

I shook my head, it was an interesting line of thought considering the theories Assault and I had thought up in regards to how my power worked- but it was one that wasn't important at the moment. Though I _did_ make note of the fact that she could evidently use her power to track my movements to some degree.

"I see. So you thought following after an _unknown_ parahuman was a good idea?" The question was rhetorical, something Vista fortunately understood if her suddenly flushing was any indication. "And where was your patrolling partner in all this?" Vista opened her mouth but I preemptively cut her off. "And please don't lie, I _know_ there isn't anyone else in the vicinity besides Hellhound. So please, just don't."

"...It's Shadow Stalker, she…" Grimacing, Vista looked away for a moment, "She tends to go her own way while on patrol."

"If she's willing to up and bail on her fellow wards will on patrol then she doesn't seem like all that good a teammate," I observed bluntly.

Surprisingly, Vista took offense to that and stood up a bit straighter, "No, but she still part of it."

So even if she doesn't like them she still doesn't want to get a teammate in trouble. Sighing, I shook my head. Admirable, but rather misguided if what I'd read up about Shadow Stalker was correct. "So, do you get why I had to be a bit of a bitch?"

"I messed up."

"You messed up. You went after an unknown Parahuman into unknown territory without backup and then proceeded to spy on them before being caught in the act," My blunt summation of how much she'd messed up made her flush. Then, to drive the point home, I _stepped_ to within just a foot of the other girl and flicked her on the forehead before _stepping_ back an instant later.

As quickly as it'd come, the pink on her cheeks shifted into a sudden pallor. " _Yes_ , you messed up," I reiterated before slowly reaching into my jacket and- luckily getting it on the first try -pulling out a pad of lime green sticky notes and a pen. Scribbling awkwardly on the little square of paper, I slowly walked toward Vista; and peeling off the slip I proffered it to the younger girl.

"My number, for if Shadow Stalker skips out on you again give me a call, or whatever really. I'd be happy to talk or patrol with you if I'm available."

Hesitantly, the other girl took the slip and glanced down at it before looking up at me and shifted uncomfortably

"Your people have it on file already so you don't need to worry about keeping it from them," I said to reassure her. For some reason that didn't seem to help, but turning away I began walking toward the other side of the roof when Vista spoke up.

"Do you really think you can turn her?"

Turning to face her I smiled wistfully, "That's the plan. She's really not that bad a person, she just has… problems." I glanced back at the Kennel as a cacophony of barking erupted from within it. "You want to meet her?"

The younger girl grimaced and I shrugged, "Well come on down if you want. Just come to the gate and I'll let you in. Ok?"

Seeing the other girl nod, I walked the rest of the way to the roofs edge. And dropping down the street level, I made my way back into the Kennel to find an agitated Rachel with sedan sized versions of Judas, Brutus and Angelica circling protectively around her.

* * *

In other news, I started a quest! My first quest, **A Most Grievous Quest** [ SB / SV] in fact. Its something that had been mostly finished and rattling around and distracting me since November, a bit of a rocky start but the next post is in progress on that.

Also, to those that volunteered to beta my original Scifi piece its getting there and will hopefully have it in a decent condition for beta'ing. Its put together into one chap and now I'm just working on straightening up inconsistencies between edited portions and a few mangled paragraphs... Definitely got caught in the editing trap with this one. Sorry for lagging.

Edit: And I set up an Archive and general posting thread on SV that is up to date with all my stuff and has the rough prologue for another original fic in it if anyone is interested, this one has a fantasy/magic slant if that tickles your fancy. Necroing welcome.


	29. Chapter 29

I dont know what it was. Everything I touched this past month was just... bleh, my muse took one look at the beatin club and just ran. Dont know what to say... BUT THAT DID NOT STOP ME THIS TIME!

I Sat my ass down and went with the original chap a day method and pounded it in one sitting. Just finished a little bit ago with it a cursory read through and I think I got most things but it is unbetad so if you see anything you know the drill... though I think it should mostly be grammar issues... Ill try and touch it up tommarow but wanted to get this out now as the wizardry required to get it from the computer to my phone was rather... frustrating.

And by his noodly greatness! I went through a few past chaps and realized I definitely need to fix a few things.

Ahem, anyway, heres the #29.

Trope  
#29

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sadly, introducing Vista to Rachel's herd of attention loving dogs wasn't in the cards. And that was doubly unfortunate as it probably would have done wonders to getting her to _calm the fuck down_.

Tracking Rachel as she paced back and forth I sighed. If anything, the two meeting each other may have reassured her and kept her from unconsciously keeping Angelica, Brutus and Judas in their meat suits. The tension was practically _radiating_ off her, something the trio were picking up on as Angelica whined.

And now _that_ was a rather strange sight, seeing a car sized, mutant lizard-dog whine anxiously. Sliding off my perch on a stack of unused cinderblocks, I moved to reassuringly pat Angelica's scaled muzzle and tried to ignore how my had was subsequently soaked in slobber.

As it was however, and as much as I wished it were otherwise, the other girls fears weren't exactly unfounded. I suspected I'd gotten through to Vista, but that didn't account for other things like P.R.T. trackers in her gear. And then there was Rachel's semi incoherent ranting, from which I'd gathered that A: the city's kennels were irresponsible and generally shit, and B: there were at _least_ a few E88 grunts that knew she had her kennel here.

Even _if_ I trusted that Vista wouldn't report Rachel and I, the latter bit of information changed things. We'd need to find a new location for her to keep the dogs at, stat.

It was a troublesome complication to say the least.

"And you're _sure_ there aren't any other suitable locations close by?"

Growling, Rachel stopped her pacing and spun around to lash out; kicking a loose cinder block hard enough for it to shatter. "No."

Well… dammit, "And you're sure? There's nowhere else that you looked? Is there anywhere that could be _made_ to work?"

Poking at the pieces of broken cinder block she grimaced. "I looked, my first Kennel was in Merchant turf for a reason. Too much trouble from them though. Anywhere else was too much work."

"Merchant turf huh…" The one major group I _hadn't_ had an encounter with yet… well aside from crashing into one of their labs while fighting Lung of course, but that didn't really count. Maybe it was time to start patrolling in their neck of the city then, "And, hypothetically, what if they weren't around to give you trouble?"

Rachel just shrugged and looked around the unfinished building; her eyes going from the concrete slab covered in blankets, dogs beds and crates to the beaten down tall grass where the majority of the dogs were resting. "Pro'ly' a lab now," she muttered. Then turning her attention on the trio she blinked and grunted and a moment later they began shedding their bulk.

Not long after that we headed out, Rachel heading home with the Trio plus Bullet while I went off on my own. We needed to find a new place for Rachel's kennel and there were a few places I could check out that may be workable.

XXXX

As it turned out, Rachel had been right. There really _weren't_ all that many places suitable to use as a kennel.

Being unoccupied was an easy enough parameter to check. One of the more tricky ones however was that the building be in a good overall condition, couldn't have it collapsing in a stiff breeze after all. It was one of the latter conditions, though, that was problematic: was the interior safe to be in?

Finding large, abandoned buildings that fit most of Rachel's conditions wasn't all that difficult. But finding one that could house the dogs without them getting sick from some toxic crap left behind or from eating something they shouldn't have? That was a whole other thing entirely.

Needless to say, once had an idea of what to look for, abandoned buildings in Brockton Bay were somewhat… hazardous. Because of my searching, however, I'd been out and about when Lisa had called back with an update and confirmation on her lead with E88. Unfortunately the shipment, or rather, _shipments_ , had come a bit earlier than she'd known, so she'd only had a line on one and not the others.

That single shipment had been in the general area I'd been searching though, so her last minute notice hadn't been an issue. Which led to me sitting atop a power pole looking down on a beaten up cargo van being unloaded into an old auto body shop with my phone to my ear.

" _Again, I apologize. There just isn't anyone that we can send at the moment. Please don_ -"

Ignoring the PRT call operator on the other end I took the phone away from my ear and mashed the disconnect button. "Useless."

The word was muttered of course, wouldn't want to alert the other people in the area after all… not that it would have really mattered. It only figures though that the Empire would make a push into ABB held territory while getting an arms shipment in. I mean, what _better_ way to divert any Protectorate attention than to send in Hookwolf?

It was tempting to go and back them up, but he was only one Parahuman. A very dangerous Parahuman, but still only one. The kind of damage he could do was great, but limited in comparison to dozens of men armed with fully automatic assault rifles.

That kind of planning though… who knew what else they could be doing while the hen house was left unguarded? Nothing good at any rate.

Slipping my phone into my pants pocket I sighed, "Well at least I tried to call for backup this time." Then leaning out, I looked down the length of the power pole, past the trio of trashcan sized transformers and past the street light to the E88 grunts below. With how I was perched, with my forearm rested on one knee and my staff in spear form resting casually on my shoulder, I probably would have looked pretty ominous to them. Or, well, anyone really.

But of course, that would have required any of them had the bright idea to actually look _up_.

Shaking my head I watched as a pair of grunts in street clothes, one I'd designated as Skinny and the other as Thicky due to their respective body types. Really, with maybe a half dozen Movers in the city that could fly one would have thought that the unpowered rank and file would learn to simply look to the sky every once in awhile. It was a novel idea, but of course it required gang members be smart enough to do that.

I mean sure, I was wearing dark clothes and was probably blocked from sight by the street light and the transformers but still. In fact, with how clueless they were being I could probably have sat there all night and not be noticed. They wouldn't be that lucky though.

I stayed there a bit longer. Watching, waiting, counting how many workers they had and taking note on how many crates were being unloaded.

Surprisingly, there weren't _too_ many people. Aside from a few guards that had been keeping watch around the block - who'm I'd already dealt with - and Skinny, and Thicky there were only two others. A Blonde woman that I'd spied organizing things through a side window: Blondie. And an older man with a belly, bald spot and full beard that was supervising and helping the woman as necessary: Beardy.

A small number overall, but what wasn't small was the amount of cargo they were unloading. It was enough to fill a good portion of the shop area, though it likely wouldn't stay like that for long if the minivans I'd glimpsed inside were any indication.

It was almost as if I was watching a family working the store, and as I watched, a long crate slip from Skinny's grip. One corner smashed onto the concrete and broke apart to spill out stringy yellow packing material and a number of long objects.

I narrowed my eyes as I saw the dark metal, wooden stocks and foregrips. Guns, rifles, like the ones I'd seen before fighting Stormtiger, and counting those that spilled out I could guess that each crate probably held a dozen. And they'd unloaded a number of identical crates already.

"Well I guess that makes her two for two now."

I mean, It wasn't as if it hadn't been obvious what had been in the crates, the yellow Crillic printing kinda gave that away, but confirmation was still nice. And as I watched Thicky and Skinny scramble to fix things Beardy came storming out. Right off the bat he smacked skinny upside the head and got up in his face berating him.

It reinforced the family store image and as I watched I couldn't help but crack a grin as the older man chewed out the younger. I mean, they were Neo-Nazis sure, but that didn't mean they couldn't be a source of amusement.

What wasn't amusing, however, was Beardy stepping off the loading dock for a moment then re-emerging with a long, wood and metal tube that flared at the end and had a pair of hand grips near the other end. I blinked. _That_ sure as hell wasn't a rifle.

Slipping my hand into my pocket I pulled out my phone once more as the older man shook the weapon at the younger. I stopped, and after a considering the scene below me for a moment slowly slid the device back into my pocket. No, better to just handle this _now_. If I called it in that these guys had that kind of hardware the PRT and Protectorate would _have_ sent someone… someone that likely wasn't so durable.

Standing, I cracked my neck; and spreading my arms wide I slowly leaned forward until I toppled off my perch. Falling through the air I flipped once before landing in a quiet crouch that shocked the three men into stillness. And standing I spun my weapon once before resting its butt on the loading dock.

Looking between the three startled neo-nazis, my lips slowly spread into my Mad Girl Grin[™].

"Hello, would you kindly put your hands behind your head and get on your knees?"

It took a moment, but as I was looking between the three of them Beardy staggered back. Finally coming to his senses he dropped the RPG and reached to the small of his back, flipping up his jacket and drawing a fuckoff sized silver revolver in one smooth motion. He was fast, I'd give him that, but only for a baseline human.

I let him bring it up and I noted his feet sliding into a stance, his left foot sliding back while his weight shifted onto his forward foot. But that was as far as I let him go. Before his finger could tighten on the trigger, I spun my spear with a deft flick of my wrist and _gently_ slapped the weapon out of his hand to sent it clattering inside.

"No," I admonished, much like Rachel had with Bullet when the dog had tried to beg for dinner scraps her first night over.

I looked between the three, "I'm going to say it one more time before I start getting _annoyed_. Put your hands behind your head and get on your knees... _Now_."

Surprisingly, it was the older man who compiled first. He didn't seem happy about it going by his scowl, but he knelt down nevertheless. The two younger men on the other hand… Skinny had gone pale and looked like he was going to bolt while Thicky was just sneering at me. I focused first on Skinny and after staring at him for a few moments he caved and mimicked Beard.

Thicky however… well he seemed to be thicker in more than just body.

"You can keep looking at me all you want kike, I ain't doin shit."

Blinking, I looked down at Beard. "He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he."

Actually grunting in what I took to be an agreement, Beard glared at the thick one before shaking his head.

Huffing, I spun my weapon; shifting it into its hammer form before _gently_ slamming it onto the loading bay so it stood up before _stepping_ behind the thick one. "Dont say I didn't try," I muttered before grabbing his arm and twisting it up behind his back and sweeping his legs out from under him. All said, it was rather sloppy. I'd learned the general moves of the take down from Assault and had never really got it down pat, but pure strength rather made up for that.

He went down hard, and as he moaned into the loading bay my hand darted into my jacket to retrieve a pair of thick zipties.

"You know," I mused as I pulled the plastic strips tight and moved to do the same with his ankles, "that wasn't necessary. All you had to do-" Suddenly, an ear splitting report rang through the loading bay and a hammer blow smashed into my back. Absently, I saw Skinny and Beardy fall forward as they clapped their hands to their ears.

I only really noticed because they were in front of me however, my main focus was biting back my scream as the muscles around where the hammer blow landed _burned_. It _hurt_ , it hurt just as my calf had hurt when Victor had been sniping me.

Spinning around I expected to see someone I'd missed standing there with a massive rifle. But no, instead there was Blondie, on the ground with an oozing gash on her forehead and the Fuckoff Revolver on the floor next to her.

...What? Glancing around the shop I half expected someone to pop out, either from behind the stacks of crates or from the minivans… but there was no one but Blondie. Frowning, I eyed the revolver before quickly finishing up Thicky and Zip tying Skinny and Beardy. They didn't resist much, still somewhat incoherent from the gunshot.

That done, I cautiously made my way into the autobody shop; eyeing the different stacks of crates, a set of shelves two deep off the side of the large room, the Minivans, a side bathroom with its door open… there was no one else though. Grimacing I looked down at Blondie and made sure to kick the Fuckoff Revolver a little farther away from her. That thing was something to check out, but first… Kneeling down I pushed a bit of Blondie's hair- dyed, going by the brown roots -out of her face in order to get a better look at the gash.

Seeing it, I cringed and sucked in a breath as I got a good look at the puckered wound. My stomach then twisted as a bit of blood pulsed out. Swallowing I looked back to Beardy, "Hey, Beardy, you got a first aid kit around here."

Grunting, the man rolled himself over and after a few moments of wiggling managed to sit up. He took one look at Blondy, huffed, and shook his head, "Bathroom."

Finding the first aid kit was easy enough, it was mounted on the wall right next to a slightly grungy mirror. I just ripped it off the wall and grabbed a handful of paper towels before returning to Blondy and got to work. It looked bad, and it probably was, but one thing I'd learned from Assault was that head wounds bled... a lot. And seeing one now I could definitely agree.

I didn't spend too long patching her up though, instead just cleaning the wound with some iodine before using a wad of gauze to plug the wound and taped it in place. Not pretty and not clean, but functional; and the entire time Beardy just watched quietly, right up until I closed up the box and stood.

"Thanks."

Glancing at the man I nodded in acknowledgement, "No problem." Finally, I retrieved the Fuckoff Revolver. It was heavy, heavier than you'd think a revolver could be and bigger than one had any right to be. Looking it over, I turned the cylinder and fiddled with it until it flipped open and I tipped the bullets back into my palm. "Woah." Absently, I snapped the revolver like I'd seen in some movies and held up one of the bullets, it was the size of my damn thumb and it was purple… I figured that may have had something to do with it hurting.

Opening the cylinder again I slid the bullets back in- even the empty one -and snapped it closed again. "So I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this this has a lot of recoil," I mused aloud. Surprisingly though Beardy answered.

Looking, I saw him shake his head. "Yeah, it's got some recoil, you could say..." Trailing off his brow furrowed and he stared at me.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer, instead just continuing to stare at me… No, I looked inward, to my slot as a new selection slid into my slot. Examining it though I realized it _wasn't_ new, it had simple been blacked out, incomplete. Now it wasn't, _THE GUNSLINGER_. Blinking, I looked to the Fuckoff Revolver to see it had turned the same black as my staff… interesting, very interesting.

This wasn't the time for power testing though, and dropping the Fuckoff Revolver into one of my jackets many pockets I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial for the P.R.T.'s report hotline.

" _This is the P.R.T._ "

It was someone new, a man this time, "This is Indominus, a short while ago I reported finding an E88 supply depot, I've secured it. Is someone available to secure the site?"

" _E88 supply depot, understood. One moment please_."

Tinkling, on hold music came over the line for several _long_ moments and I was getting a little irritated when the line picked back up, only it wasn't the man this time, it was Miss Militia. " _Indominus_?"

"I'm here."

There was a long sigh from the other line followed by a sharp intake and an almost inaudible cursing. " _I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you otherwise but no one is available to relieve you at this time_."

It took a few second to process that. _No one though_? That seemed... unlikely, unless they had to divert people to other areas. "Was the fight that bad?"

A sigh, " _Not as bad as it could have been, Oni Lee made a run at HQ and Hookwolf came along with him. I shouldn't be telling you this but between the damages and injuries we can't field enough personnel to reach you in anything under an hour_."

"An hour…" Staring off into space I considered the feasibility of such a thing. It was _possible_ , but it was risky, who knew when someone would notice something was up and who knew who could show up in that time… "I understand, any suggestions?"

" _Destroy it if you can, that's all I can say. And unless you can bring those people you captured with you then you'll have to leave them_." Miss hissed and there was a moment of muffled yelling before she came back, " _The fact of the matter is you're too far into Empire territory for anyone we do have to… ng, to relieve you_."

"I understand, I'll do what I can."

" _Thank you, and I'm sorry, I know this probably isn't helping_."

I couldn't help it, it was frustrating but if things were bad enough that they couldn't send anyone along then that was just how it was. "It's ok, I'll deal with it. Shit just happens I guess."

" _It does, hopefully though I may have a proposal to prevent this again… can we expect you in for a report_?"

Nodding I walked to the loading back and grabbed my spear, then walking back I began stabbing the tires of the Minivans. "Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. Sometime in the next few days ok?"

" _That's ok_."

"Ok, take care of yourself Miss M."

" _And you as well Indominus_."

Taking the phone away I mashed the disconnect button as a droning started coming out of the receiver.

A quiet chuckle drew my attention from the phone to Beady, "Outa luck ey? Guess you'll just have to let us go." If the smugness coming off the man was any thicker one would have thought he wasn't tied up.

I grimaced and looked at the crates. "Or I could just cut it all up."

He just shrugged, "You could, but you won't be able to destroy it all and who knows how some of it would react to being chopped up." He grinned, "Some of this stuff might not be safe after all, who knows what could happen."

That… I hadn't considered. Slowly, my teeth began to grind together as I took a look at the crates; a number of which had a yellow drop warning on them. Beardy let out a barking laugh and I looked back to him, glaring… but then I looked _past_ him, to the truck, the truck that had a _lot_ of room in it. Plenty for the crates and a good bit more.

My lips spread into my Mad Girl Grin[™] and ever so slowly the amusement slipped from Beardy's face. "Or, I could just take it all with me."

Beardy's face quickly turned stony at that and my grin spread even wider.

"Yeah, I think that's what I'm gonna do."

Beardy began talking again but I ignored him, stabbing my spear into the floor and began perusing the autobody shop, looking for things that looked like they were meant for distribution.

Boxes of drugs, bandages, surgical kits, gloves, masks, medical supplies…and bed rolls, folding cots, sheets and a few rolls of plastic sheeting dominated one row of shelving. Honestly it looked like it was meant for a triage setup, actually… I stepped back and looked it up and down. If that _wasn't_ what it was for I would have eaten my hat… that is if I had one.

Well this stuff would have to be taken as well. Turning on my heel I looked at the next row of shelves filled with what looked like brand new gadgets and expensive electrical toys that the E88 would have put to use. Oh yes, this wouldn't do at all.

The third shelf was mostly USPS boxes, no markings or anything and probably just grabbed in bulk… better be safe and take them as well.

Grinning I meandered back to the loading bay to find that Beardy had managed to wiggle a good ways across to the bathroom. "Nuh uh," grabbing him by the ankle I dragged him over to the woman and Zip Tied her hands and feet before dragging Skinny and Thicky over as well. Best to keep them out of the way.

Clapping my hands I turned to the pile of crate, "Now, where to start…"

It took a bit, going box by box and crate by crate, stacking things in the cargo truck so it all fit together. Without having to rely on another person and being able to manhandle things into place, however, it went rather quickly. Much quicker than it had taken Skinny and Thicky at any rate, hadn't even taken more fifteen minutes.

So with a stack of three wood ammo crates in hand I stepped into the back of the truck and set them into place. And that was everything. I looked around the inside of the truck checking that things were secure and in the process seeing that there was still a lot of space left… once again, my Mad Girl Grin[™] appeared. Well there was was a precedent for this type of thing, now wasn't there.

After all, what kind of good adventurer _doesn't_ take everything that isn't nailed down when they raid a dungeon.

Turning back to the autobody shop I began eyeing things anew, with the first of the loot in the room that caught my eye being a large tool chest with some convenient casters to roll about on.

I may have have problems with it, but _WRENCH WENCH_ needed proper tools to work at its fullest after all.

Back and forth I went, hauling lifts, jacks, flood lights, gas cans, oil cans, coolant containers, specialty toolboxes, rolling stools, extension cords, power bars, car batteries, a blow torch, the and even the shelves once I'd noticed they came apart easily. Not even the grungy bathroom mirror was spared, I didn't have one of those afterall.

Really, anything that looked useful or interesting went in the truck.

Smiling, I looked at the now packed cargo truck. Practically every square inch was now filled with something, things that could be put to better use than being utilized by the E88. Pulling the rolling door down I latched it and over to the back entrance to the shop I hit the door closed button.

"You fucking bitch don't ignore me! Listen, you can't take all that!"

Looking back to Beardy- who like the other three was now hogtied -I grinned, and reaching into my jacket I pulled out my aviators and slipped them on as the shop door started descending. "Deal with it."

The drive to the tower was… _tense_ , to say the least. It had been my first time driving and I was amazed I hadn't been pulled over. It gave me a sense of elation, despite being rather mundane. Hiding the truck in a shuttered industrial building near the tower had been a bit of pain, but sealing everything back up had concluded a rather peaceful- if busy -night. Shame Rachel had been too busy to come along.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thanks go to No One and Tyler Marts and apeljohn for post post correction


	30. Chapter 30

Trope  
#30

Danny

* * *

There had been a _reason_ I'd resisted getting Taylor a puppy when she'd been little. They were messy, for one thing, and time consuming, but frankly we wouldn't have been able to afford one at the time regardless.

She'd given up on the topic, eventually, and that had been the end of it. Then, years later, she comes home with a fully grown-if small-dog that she had captured from a villain. A villain that came to get her dog back, that Taylor was trying to reform, and that was now living in my house and working security for the Union.

But Rachel was gone, for now, and it was the fourth and latest dog that was the current issue. A sixty pound, leggy, slobbering mass of hyperactive energy that-as I'd found out when going to bed-liked to _snuggle_.

No, the current issue with Bullet was that she hadn't gone with Rachel on the walk-that she hadn't come back from-and as such hadn't had a chance to go. So now here I was, in the dimly lit backyard, at one in the morning, waiting for her to pee.

I didn't _really_ have a problem with them. Rachel fed them, bathed them, walked them and groomed them, with Taylor occasionally helping out. But without her Master here, Bullet had lost a bit of the tempering that Angelica, Judas and Brutus had. Really, she was only _somewhat_ behaved.

Though at least she hadn't made a mess inside. That would have been a _bit_ much.

Sighing, I watched as the lean dog found a spot and did her business. Finally. It was quick though, and hosing down the area after she'd finished I snagged her collar and led her back to the house, putting her in first then following after rolling the hose back up in its pot.

Now inside and behind walls-where it was much warmer-I sniffed back a runny nose that had come on between stepping out and coming back in. It was late April and _still_ not warm enough to be outside at this time in just pajamas. Wiping at it, I just grabbed for the coffee tin and put on a fresh pot. It was early, too early, but Taylor would probably be up soon and getting a few things done would be a better use of time than trying to go to sleep… considering it hadn't helped much the last few times.

Taking down the least battered of our coffee mugs I set it out and watched the pot slowly fill. The brown, almost black, steaming liquid dribbled and spurted out of the old machine.

For all her power, Taylor still wasn't as quiet as she thought she was, and her late night departures and early morning arrivals hadn't gone unnoticed. It was concerning, and something I'd have brought up with her sooner if not for the fact that she didn't seem tired or have any of the usual indications of lack of sleep.

I resolved to give it a few days, see if she says something before bring it up- A high-pitched keening, whining noise broke the kitchens relative quiet.

Spinning, I looked to the sound to see Bullet at the back door with her nose high and a low whine coming from her quivering jowls. She barked and began pawing at the door crack, continuing to whine.

Well, if Taylor wasn't awake before, she was now.

Sighing, I stepped over to pull the door open. If she wanted to go out again then she could… she could…

Something in my thought process suffered an error and I froze; some _instinctive_ part in the reptilian part of my brain responding to the... the _thing_ just outside the door.

Big, shadowy, its silhouetted bulk took up all of the back stoop. What little I could see, however, was an abomination. Red, glistening flesh covered its flank where bony plates and spikes left gaps.

Unconsciously my eyes found its teeth, its _maw_ , right at eye level and filled with pale white teeth that wouldn't be amiss if they were on a shark. And held in its maw, a mangled mass of pale skin, red wetness and shredded fabric soaked through and dripping.

It made a noise and I flinched, taking an unconscious step back before I recognized the sound. A _whine_.

It was an unnatural, deep, warbling sound, but it was still a whine. One that-despite its source-wasn't _too_ unlike the one that Bullet was making.

A _dog's_ whine.

I blinked, then blinked again as the thing bowed its head and set something on the stoop; its motions slow, careful, even gentle. It shuffled back and collapsed onto the grass then, a thick fog quickly shrouding its head as it sucked in deep breaths.

After a moment though it turned its gaze up to me, then back to the mangled mess and bumped it with its nose.

Reflexively I followed the motion as a thick pink tongue lapped out and licked at one end of the mass, turning it in my direction and making my heart go still.

Face purple and swollen as it was and her hair matted down with wetness, I still recognized her messy haircut and hard jaw line. _Rachel_.

Her chest rose and she groaned, then sucked in a ragged breath that immediately came back out as a wet cough.

"Oh god."

What- who- I flicked my gaze back to the the monster, the _dog_ , bigger and more terrifying than- _no_. Steeling myself, I stepped onto the porch and carefully slid my hands under her back and legs.

She flinched away, moaning, and at that her monster-dog growled a bit in warning. Ignored both of them I finished scooping up the hurt girl. That's really just what she was: a girl. A rough, crude girl that had issues and hurt people, but still just a _girl_. One that wasn't even an adult and only a bit older than Taylor…

My mind went into a direction I _did not_ want to to go, conjuring up the image of this being Taylor, her invulnerability somehow defeated and- _focus_.

Holding Rachel close, I turned and went back into the kitchen. Dripping with blood-and what may have been drool-I made my way to the table and swept everything roughly aside to set her down. The silverware and plates I had put out for breakfast fell to the floor with a clatter.

But I didn't hear the clatter and clang, not really. Nor did I hear the pounding of footsteps overhead. No, all I could hear was my heart, loud in my ears, as I jerked open the kitchen drawers and pulled things out, remembering _long_ disused first aid training.

Her sweatshirt had to go first. The arms, chest, stomach- it was all practically shredded from cuts in the thick material. I brought the scissors up, snipping partially up her left sleeve to check her wrist for-

"Dad?!"

The exclamation cut through my focus and the beating in my ears. I looked up to see Taylor, her eyes wide as she stared. My little hero, my little owl… In less than a second her expression went from surprised confusion to one of rage. Her eyes widening a little, brow furrowing, jaw tightening in an instant.

And just as quickly my throat locked up. _That_ expression, I hadn't seen it in years, but it was the _same_ , the exact same expression Annette had worn when we'd last gotten into an argument, an argument that had ended with her getting in the car and not coming back.

But then it was gone, the haunting expression wiped away as if it had never been there at all. Replaced by an intense focus.

The sudden transition was enough to break me out of my surprise. "Taylor," her eyes snapped to mine, fortunately, "I need you to get the first aid kit, some towels, and some hot water; as hot as you can."

Nodding, she complied without question, and as I worked she gathered what I'd told her and then some, going upstairs to bring back several boxes of gauze, bandages and surgical tape.

I kept working while supplies piled up on the table, cutting up and down the sleeves of her sweatshirt and down the middle so I could get an idea of how bad off she was... and whether or not we needed to risk taking her to the hospital to get _real_ help. God, I hoped it wasn't that bad, and for almost a minute after peeling back her shirt, I thought t may have been.

She was _covered_ in lacerations _,_ a network of shallow cuts barely an inch long running up and down her arms and across her stomach. Her back was likely no better off. But what was most troubling were the numerous puncture wounds curving across her upper torso and stomach in a wide arc. Teeth marks, presumably.

I started on her pants, cutting a line down each leg then tossing them aside. It was rather worse there: the cuts were longer, a little deeper, and some were still pumping out thin streams of blood.

Fortunately… it seemed she may not in as bad a shape as I'd thought. But that in itself, however, was disturbing.

I glanced to her ribs, where several large purple splotches were appearing; then looked to her arms, and back to her legs. Cuts were everywhere, and almost all of them were the same size. Small, little more than an inch. But that kind of precision was deliberate... she'd been cut and beaten badly, but not enough to kill. Whoever had done this had wanted her to _hurt_.

Despite all the damage, somehow she was still _conscious_. I glanced back out the door to the monster-dog still laying out on the grass; and seeing me look its way it whined, reminding me it was concerned, in case I had forgotten. Rachel had warned us that if she was knocked out her dogs would shrink quickly - that one of them was still like that meant she was still awake. Maybe not aware, and probably delirious judging from her completely out of it, but still with us.

The fact that here was only _one_ of her dogs here though…

Looking back to Rachel I grimaced. That could only be bad news.

Seeing Taylor was done with one of her arms, I went to the stove, and, reaching to the cabinet above the hood, I pulled down a plastic bottle of clear liquid. We didn't have any antibiotics in the house, so that meant we needed to use the next best thing.

Taylor paused as she was cleaning the puncture wounds across Rachel's chest, watching as I used a knife to poke a hole in the cap and grabbed her arm. It would have been better if she had been unconscious-this would sting like hell-but under the circumstances...

"Dad?"

"You might want to hold her down," I warned. And angling the bottle down at her arm, squeezed.

She bucked as I squirted a steady stream of cheap vodka down her arm, putting my secret, shameful stash to a better purpose than I would likely have used it for otherwise. Rachel moaned, a low, throaty sound, but was kept still between Taylor pressing her to the table and my firm grip on her arm. Surprisingly, by the time I was done and and wrapping a towel around her arm, her eyes were open, panicked, teeth grit in a pained grimace.

I glanced at Taylor as she released her fold and looked her friend in the eye.

"Just stay still, ok? I just gave you _SIDEKICK_ so you're going to be fine, but we need to patch you up."

She was a little more cooperative after that. She flinched and jerked away when we had to flip her over, or clean any of the deeper wounds, but still cooperative… and quiet. _Too_ quiet. She just stared into space as we worked, not saying a word.

It was only when we were done, half an hour later, that she finally spoke, dressed and buttoning up one of my old flannel shirts with trembling fingers. Taylor had tried to help her, but she'd just slapped her hands away.

"Brutus, Judas," It was mumbled, and as she fumbled with the last button she looked to the monster-dog _-Angelica_ , I remembered-before sliding off the table.

"No."

I blinked as Taylor appeared in front of Rachel, blocking her way as she turned toward the door. Her face was blank as she stared at her friend, her eyes focused and an air of command came over her. "I'll go get them Rachel. You, _stay_."

Between her tone, her posture, and the general air of authority she wore, it was clear that she had given Rachel an order.

The other girl glared back defiantly, her hands curling into fists as I watched, silent, a separate party to this and unsure what to do. After several long moments, though, Rachel gave in, looking away as she slumped. "Hookwolf and Cricket are there," she mumbled.

The mask of calm faded in a blink as Taylor's lips spread into a wide grin. "I'll beat them and bring them back, then. You can count on it."

Rachel nodded slowly. Defeated. Then glancing around, she stooped to pick up her shredded pants. And digging out a small notepad she shuffled to the counter and grabbed the pad and pen from beside the wireless and scribbled something out before tearing it off.

I stood a little straighter as Rachel handed the slip to Taylor, panic beginning to build even as I saw her brow furrow and teeth grind together when she stared at the paper. "Tay-"

-and then she was gone. There was a sound of heavy fabric from the living room, and the door opening, but before I could call or take a step it slammed shut.

 _Hookwolf_. Of all the people in the city, even next to Lung, he was among the most powerful. And, not even _hours_ ago, he'd gone up against the Protectorate and P.R.T. while fighting Oni Lee.

The damage that he'd done... Even if Taylor _had_ been able to fight Lung on an equal footing...

"Do you have any Tylenol, Mr. Hebert?"

Looking over my shoulder, I saw Rachel standing next to the table, her arm holding tight to the back of a chair to support her weight as her legs trembled. She even had her other hand in a fist, clenched tight against the pain, knuckles white.

"Something for the pain?" I asked, my voice low despite the tension. No sense in taking out my worries on the poor girl - she'd been through enough already.

She nodded.

"Yeah, I'll... Just a minute."

Taylor. That look she'd had... she was going to do something _stupid_ , and all I could do was sit at home, helpless, waiting for her to come back. Jogging up the stairs I made for the bathroom and began sifting through the drawers. It had been hell, watching the news about Taylor getting into a brawl with _Lung_ of all people. I'd _seen_ the damage from that firsthand, the destruction they had caused. And I couldn't do anything about it. My guts twisted into a knot as I found what I was looking for and stood, shaking a red and white bottle to hear a number of pills rattling inside.

I couldn't do _anything_.

I trudged back downstairs, only to find it empty. The bottle of vodka was gone, and Angelica's bulk was no longer present. My guts squirmed and I threw the bottle, the pills rattling loudly as it bounced off the wall.

God damnit. I couldn't do _anything_. I hated feeling so _helpless_. My eyes were drawn to the open closet next to the backdoor, coats and jackets pushed aside. With some relief I noted the absence of the bat that usually hid there.

"Well, at least she didn't go completely empty-handed," I muttered dejectedly. Then my eyes caught on the reflective glint of my work jacket. New, shiny, it was meant for the cleanup site, to make sure no one got run over while working. It was a almost a representation of things turning around for the Union.

And yet while one part of my life got better, the other was spiraling down the drain as I did nothing to help Taylor…

My eyes widened as I stared at the jacket, an idea inspired by old memories of a more optimistic time taking root.

No, I was _wrong_ , I _could_ do something.

What would Annette have said? seeing me wallowing in my shame like this? My lips turned up in a full smile, the memory of a sharp sting on my cheek reminding me. She'd have slapped me and then chewed me out for being so stupid, that's what she'd have done.

Straightening my back, I crossed to the counter, and with one hand I took the phone off its cradle while the other pulled the family phonebook from its drawer. I began thumbing through the pages even as I punched in one of the few numbers I knew by memory.

* * *

Decided to scrap the chap I'd had roughed after the last chap, it was... meh, and I figured Danny could use some screen time. Espscially as it would clear things up for things to come... hopefully.  
Edit: and hopefully I did better with him this time.

Also many many thanks go to themanwhowas for editing this.


	31. Chapter 31

Trope

#31

* * *

The tip of my sword sank into the pavement behind me as I stopped. Then I _stepped_ again, and again, and again- each _step_ propelling me through the city.

 _Hookwolf_.

I _stepped_ again, landing next to a stopped patrol car at an intersection before glancing up at the street signs. Fourth and Willow, not too much farther now.

My teeth ground together as the tentative hold I was trying to keep on my temper without having to resort to using _THE STOIC_ slipped a little before I clamped back down on it.

Saying I had a 'list' would have been disingenuous, but if I _had_ had one? Then Hookwolf would have been right up there with Oni Lee, Purity, Lung and Squealer as some of the the 'Big Three's' most dangerous hitters.

He had a _history_ , a _reputation_. And simply in terms of experience, he was probably one of the cities most lethal. That he'd survived, stayed alive and free for all this time as a Supervillain? It meant he was a cut above the grade, that he was _dangerous_.

Where the fight he'd gotten into with Oni Lee fit into everything I wasn't sure, besides probably working as a distraction for the weapons shipments, but it must not have been enough for him to wreck part of downtown before hitting the PHQ. No, he'd just _had_ to finish up his night with a little torture after party.

Well fuck _that_ , if he was up for that then he was up for a round two with someone that could go toe to toe with him.

At least I probably wouldn't be completely on my own this time though. The incessently buzzing phone in my pocket had made sure of that. I ignored the call, however, and just kept moving though, I'd wasted too much time as it was.

Touching down atop a stripped car I _stepped_ a little too hard as I propelled myself into the air, the roof bucking under my feet with a loud Bang!

The air streaked by as I rushed into the air, the cold air of the night pulling at my hair and jacket; my pajama bottoms providing little protection and my bare feet momentarily getting goosebumps. It was irrelevant though, as the city stretched out in before me I focused on the streets and traced out my path before gravity took hold once more and I was pulled back to the earth.

Now falling through the air I spun, gently turning head over heel with the grace of a ballerina to touch down atop a telephone pole. Pausing for barely a second to lean forwards, I _stepped_ to the next pole down the line, then the next, and the next, and so on as I pushed further into the rusting industrial heart of the city.

XXXX

Stopping at a roofs edge, I looked down on the street to a hooded punk leaning up against a pickup painted in just a _few too many_ shades of matte grey. Shivering, he pulled an arm closer to his chest as the other brought a glowing ember up to his hood, a moment later exhaling a plume of thin smoke into the night air.

I _Stepped_ , appearing at the thug's side as they brought up the cigarette again and dispersing the smoke into nothing with my sudden appearance. There was a moment, just a moment, as the thugs night vision ruined eyes widened at my appearance before I kicked out. His knee bent inward and I pivoted, bringing my tightly clenched fist down on his jaw.

Cracks, muffled and wet accompanied both rapid blows as I hobbled and muted the now unconscious thug. A quick pat down revealed his phone and an even quicker stomp turned it to scrap. One more down. It was quick and probably overly brutal, but he'd live. It would just _hurt_.

Turning without a glance back I _stepped_ , continuing on my circuit around the squat building Rachel's address had led me to. Some sort of vending machine repair shop going by the 'Rays Vending Repair' sign over the darkened and barred front entrance.

As fast as I could I criss crossed the streets, finding and neutralizing a number of lookouts that had been stationed around the area. Fortunately though there weren't many and it only took up a few minutes before I touched down next to the cab of a large, off white cargo truck. It was rather like the one I'd taken from the depot, but several sizes larger with a big bulge at the front.

The cage I'd seen being loaded in on my first scouting of the building along with the brief bout of muffled barking I'd heard coming from within told me clearly enough what was inside it.

Deftly spinning my sword and re-distributing its mass into a short version of my spear I jabbed at the front tire, the air rapidly escaping within seconds with a loud hiss and blowing against my pajama bottoms as I stalked with measured steps toward the rear of the vehicle.

Slowing to a stop, I sidled up along the side of the truck to keep out of sight of the pair of opened double doors that led into the building while tuning out the noises filtering out to listen and feel what was going on inside the truck. Curses, frustrated and confused muttering, then after a few seconds an order and I felt a pair of light footsteps making their way to the back of the truck.

Closing my eyes I listened to the footsteps while checking the positions of the two slots within the building. Hookwolf and Cricket no doubt, one was just as stationary as they'd been on my first pass over the area. The other was moving about however, though going by their distances it didn't seem like either was in sight of the doors.

A change in the footsteps, the softened vibrations of feet on wood suddenly becoming sharper and the sounds changed to the hollow clang of weight being put on loose metal. I'd heard the sound often enough while exploring the tower. I opened my eyes as I heard a sigh, a grunt and the scuff of shoes on concrete and turned my head just as a tall, lanky form stepped around the back of the truck.

He blinked, stopping in place and I took him in in a moment as _TICK TOCK_ ACTIVATED. Probably not much older than I was with dark circles under green eyes partially shrouded by brown hair hidden under a sports cap. Really, he probably could have been anyone off the street. He blinked again, and his mouth opened as a realization set in.

It was too late for him by that point though.

 _Stepping_ to his side, I transferred my spear to my off hand and struck out with a clean jab to the base of his jaw.

There was momentary resistance before bone gave under my fingers with a muffled crackling and he hit - then rebounded - off the side of the truck and folded like a limply to the cracked pavement.

 _LETHALITY MODULATION_ working at its best, set to level 5 restraint and just enough to break and shatter normal human bone without issue. One down, one more inside the truck.

Staying right where I was I reached out and touched the trucks side, feeling as a pair of heavy footsteps inside shifted and a voice called out. They waited a pause, likely listening before calling out again - apparently the glass jaws' name was Will. Apparently, when Will didn't answer that was enough for the man inside to check things out himself, and closing my eyes I listened and felt the approaching footsteps while again checking on the Slots.

One was still stationary, the same one that hadn't moved, but the other was slowly moving a little farther away at an angle that in just a few seconds would put her parallel to… I smiled as the heavy footsteps clanked on the metal plate at rear of the truck.

Opening my eyes I dropped my spear and pivoted around the corner of the truck; stepping into view of the buildings back doors and the inside of the truck.

There, standing on the metal plate that kept the soft seal at the bottom roll-up door from rubbing on the wood and the entrance to the truck's cavernous insides, a short but thick man recoiled and stared down at me in surprise. His eyes widened, comprehension coming to him faster than it had most others. Hands clad in thick gloves came up and the beginnings of a startled exclamation leaked out his mouth.

But he didn't get anywhere with it, the moment he'd reacted _TICK TOCK_ had Auto ACTIVATED. In that time, I'd looked into the back of the truck to see large dog cages packed and strapped into two-by-four and plywood shelves that ran the length of the truck.

Thick muzzles muted a number of the dogs, with many others incapable of sound either from muddy red stained white wrappings around their muzzles or because they just lay in their cages. Still, if not for a gently rising of their chests that I spotted on those closest. And the majority of those that could, were staring out the bars of their crates.

Despite my grip on it, a bit of my anger got away from me and _LETHALITY MODULATION_ got ticked down to level 4 at the sight and as I reached out the smell of Piss and Metal hit me.

The level went down another tick as my hands grabbed hold and _pulled_.

This man may have just been the dog's handler or something, but either way he was complicit. Hell, he may have been the pit master, he probably deserved it.

Fabric tore under my fingers, but it didn't matter. I twisted and tucked, my bare feet grinding into pavement as I closed my eyes, lined up with the moving slot, and _threw_.

 _TICK TOCK_ Auto DEACTIVATED and just a moment after real time snapped back into place I rose to the sound of a meaty _thump_ as two bodies collided. One was essentially immobile, and the other was approaching faster than they could react.

As I looked inside, I saw the large man and a slight, body suited form, slam into a tall stack of pallets and sent them tumbling with a hollow clatter. It was another moment before exclamations and shouts started up as I snagged my spear and I stepped inside.

Briefly, whining started behind me up from the dogs in the truck, but when I ACTIVATED _INTENT_ , they quieted along with the sparse crowd of men inside.

Briefly, I'd considered just hijacking the truck while scouting but had just as quickly realized that wouldn't have worked at all. There was no way I could have checked for Brutus or Judas to see if they were in there without attracting attention to my presence.

No, best the truck and its cargo just stay where it was. If they were in there, it wouldn't be an issue, they would be out of the way as in the next few moments the dogs would be _far_ from the thoughts of the people inside. Though the possibility also existed that they were inside, which meant getting rid of everyone.

Stepping through the doors the smell of the inside hit me like a physical thing. Sweat, Stale beer and bitter smoke were the almost overwhelming dominant smell; but beneath it, was Piss and Metal.

My lips began spreading into my Mad Girl Grin[™] as I started spinning my spear at an increasingly faster rate.

I slowly panned my head back and forth, taking in the inside of the building with a glance as warm light touched my face.

It seemed, that despite how things had looked on the outside, the building was either defunct and was being used as storage by the company... or it was now being used to store something _other_ than packed up tools and vending machine equipment.

Wooden crates of many sizes with faded labels and tall stacks of pallets dominated much of what I could see. To my right, almost an entire wall of crates had been stacked with only a narrow pass to move through to the other side. And to my left… to my left the pallets and crates were stacked and pushed around in such a way that they formed a great big circle that dominated this side of the interior. Tall stacks of equally spaced pallets made towers from which yellow construction lights pointed down into the circle, and the crates formed the majority of the ring. The _pit_.

Eyeing the makeshift structure, my eyes snapped to the slumped form of a man sitting in a lawn chair next to a light. He was big in the shoulders, with dirty blond hair hanging around his shoulders. A brief check of the two slots practically confirmed it. Hookwolf.

Warily I eyed his slouched form for a few more moments before turning my attention to the room at large; to the crowd of faces gathered around a few tables covered in brown and green bottles, blue cans, and snacks. Although a few people had started moving toward the downed handler and Cricket.

But the keyword was _had_. Now, they were all staring at me. I imagine the slightly unhinged look my Mad Girl Grin[™] gave me and my now blurring spear had that sort of all encompassing, attention grabbing effect.

Now closer, I glanced at the limp form of the Handler and the body pinned beneath him. Grey and green were the predominant colors of the bodysuit, but on an arm protruding out I saw red splotches up past the elbow before it disappeared. And beneath the man's head, a dull metal cage of curving metal.

Cricket. One down one to go.

Again, I glanced up to the tower of pallets as I strode further into the expansive room; the sparse crowd moving away as necessary while staying surprisingly behaved.

I tore my eyes away from Hookwolf and back to the crowd as I came to a stop though and began looking at the faces, meeting the eyes of whoever I could and staring until they broke contact. Surprise-Confusion-Anger-Fear-Panic and a whole host of emotions stood out to clearly _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ as I looked from face to face until I settled on a familiar face.

A face I _recognized_.

Little eyes beneath thick eyebrows and a crooked nose. Narrowing my eyes and dropping my grin to slightly exaggerated frown, I stopped spinning the blur that was my spear and pointed the black razor edged wedge at a man near the front of a group. He may have been wearing a grey sweater vest and tan slacks bulky armor, but it was him.

The assclown from before the fight with Stormtiger.

His cocky grin was absent though, and looking him up and down so was a cane or any other support for the knee I'd kicked in. Well, it seemed he'd learned not to be so self assured, though the lesson just hadn't had to time to sink in it seemed... But then again the Empire had a Healer so I guess it wouldn't have.

Slowly cocking my head I just stared at the man long enough for the air in the room to grow tense. And after several long seconds passed, a few people around the assclown followed my gaze and shifted away.

"You know, I'm _quite_ sure that I told you to get the hell out of the city?" I waited a beat before shaking my head, "And yet, here you are. I guess you didn't learn from what I did, did you?"

I paused, letting tension build and waiting as more people began nervously looking to the assclown, though their curiosity wasn't strong enough to permanently take their eyes off me. He swallowed and glanced around as he noticed more people around him moving away to clear a space.

I tilted my head the other way and furrowed my brow in exaggerated confusion. "I mean, I _told you_ that I would remember your face that night. _All_ of your faces, or maybe... did you think I was bluffing?"

Honestly, I didn't really remember much of the E88 troops themselves before Stormtiger had shown up. Except the Armored Dick, I _did_ remember him. But despite how it sounded, my words seemed to have had quite a similar effect as they'd had that night though. As almost collectively, the the people around him stepped even further back as the Neo Nazi thugs began to openly panic.

I turned my lips up in a saccharine smile, "Oh you!" Twirling my spear once, I slammed the butt into the concrete floor with enough force that a thunderous crack split the air. "I guess I'll just have to break _both_ knees this time!" And throwing my arms out, my lips stretched into my Mad Girl Grin[™], "And how fortunate that you have so many friends with you again," I exclaimed. "Now I have even _more_ faces to remember!"

By this point I was practically shouting and it seems that that had been the breaking point as a visible ripple went through the crowd as everyone stepped back. Then there was a mutter here, a whisper there… and then things exploded and the crowd broke, everyone fleeing in every which direction except _mine_.

They streamed through the stacks of crates and pallets, along the walls of the pit, even over them. They went everywhere except near _me_. The insane girl with the spear. And after a few seconds I heard metal doors slam open and within a minute the building was quiet and almost cleared of people.

Surprisingly, the assclown had only tried to escape once. Though those efforts had ceased the moment I'd locked my spear on his center mass. Yes, it seemed he _was_ capable of learning and slowly, he raised his hands as his mouth twisted up as if he'd bitten a lemon. Well tough shit for him, if the medicine was bitter then he should have done as I'd said.

It was somewhat unrealistic admittedly, but hopefully the threat and stories would spread through the ranks after tonight. Word of mouth and hearsay was a dangerous thing, and with a _little_ luck it would be the first of the chips that would tear the Empire's base out from beneath them.

I smirked at the assclown, not my Mad Girl Grin[™], just a normal, regular, self satisfied smirk. The Assclowns' grimace deepened even further and a quiet chuckle began echoing through the building before cutting off. "Heh, I'll give you this girl, you can talk with the best of 'em."

I turned my eyes to the top of the pallet tower as Hookwolf shook his head and reached to his side for a brown bottle. Tipping his head back to show a curving arc of glinting metal, he downed the liquid inside before setting it back aside and standing.

Twisting and turning he stretched, vertebrae and muscles in his broad back and shoulders popping loudly. Then he turned and I looked up at him fully, bright blue eyes, intense and searching met mine from behind an almost masquerade-esq wolf styled half mask.

Whatever he was looking for I don't know as I was a little distracted by his shirtlessness. First I'd noticed a pair of tattoos peeking around his biceps, but then I'd noticed the space between. Thick in the chest with a dense layer of layer of dark hair running from his chest to blue jeans, a _small_ part of myself couldn't help but admire the washboard eight pack that was clearly visible despite it.

It was a small, _very small_ , and miniscule part though... And thinking of Rachel's wounds killed it for good as well as forcing me grab hold of my anger to keep myself composed.

He snorted, his lips quirking up for a second. "So. You're the one that messed up storm are ya?" He looked me up and down, "A little smaller than 'ah figured ya'd be."

"It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it." I retorted... What can I say? I couldn't help it.

Surprisingly though, he nodded agreeingly. "You're not wrong. Yer a fast little fucker from what I hear, and ya look like you've got the build for it." He hooked his thumbs into his jeans, "And if you were a guy I'd say you were overcompensating for something with that swiss army knife of yours." His own lips turned up, "Lookin' kinda flat for a girl though, so I've got to wonder."

Well, tit for tat, fair was fair. The jab was annoying, but I ignored it as the man stepped forward and off the tower of pallets to land in an easy crouch. Rolling his shoulders, he glanced at the still form of Cricket and the handler laying on top of her.

He let out a heavy sigh, "Don't 'spose you'd tell me why you're here would ya? Knockin' us over twice in one night?"

I _looked_ at the man. PHYSICAL LINGUIST moved to the top of my selection… except it wasn't turning up much of anything. His stance was relaxed, completely non-hostile and his question seemed genuine. However, as he shifted his weight from one foot to another the Selection picked up an underlying hint of _Anger_ … but it was just a hint. And for someone about to get in a fight he was calm, _too calm_. Was he that confident maybe? Or… no, maybe he was just _stalling_.

Yes, that was definitely a possibility. No doubt those that had fled had already called for backup but taking things slow worked for the both of us.

"I came, because I didn't appreciate finding my student beaten and cut on like she was."

Hookwolf rocked back on his heels at that he looked down consideringly on me in a new light.

Revealing Rachel and I's association was a risk, but it was a calculated one. Sure, it moved up the timetable to transfer her kennel to an immediate necessity, but I _seriously_ doubted it would take long to realize the possibility of a connection between the two of us. A connection that wouldn't even take that much effort to confirm.

Besides, if Hookwolf was being amicable, then it would be a good time to try and get a concerning question of my own answered.

"Student huh."

"Everyone deserves the chance to have an education, even a stray like her," I quipped. By itself, such information didn't say much. What it implied, however, was that I may be older than first assumed. And with _THE NONDESCRIPT_ ACTIVE and in effect working to distort my overall appearance, it wouldn't even be a stretch thanks to my height.

Inclining his head he shrugged. "Well, if that's yer' beef then you've already got your person. Inclining his head to the downed Cricket he grimaced. "Aint' no honor in beating someone while they're down, but that's between your 'Student' and her."

I glanced at Cricket, the upwelling of anger I'd managed to tamp down enroute petering out somewhat. _PHYSICAL LINGUIST_ was picking up that he was being honest… and was a little annoyed… so Honor was a thing for him was it?

Well… that was one rage fueled objective down and the roiling pit of anger I was holding down settled a bit. How however, there was locating Judas and Brutus. There was still the possibility that they were in the truck, but if they weren't… well the problem then was Hookwolf, the other objective left-

To the side, I was drawn away from my musings as I heard the quiet shuffling of feet on concrete and flared _INTENT_. "Hey hey!" I exclaimed, "I didn't say you could leave now did I? Don't think I'm letting you leave without taking your lumps."

Immediately the movement stopped but I didn't take my eyes off Hookwolf, and he didn't take his off mine. Although he did shake his head in amusement. "I heard something interesting the other day from one of your dealers, you mind explaining?"

Snorting he stepped off the tower of pallets, falling the fifteen or so feet with little issue and landing in an easy crouch. "My people don't deal, but _sure_ ," he corrected before agreeing, although the sarcasm was practically dripping from the word as he walked over to one of the tables and picked out a green bottle. "Why not. Shoot."

Absently, and more to do _something_ I began spinning my spear; slowly turning it end over end as Hookwolf popped the cap off his beer with his thumb and taking a sip.

"While I was patrolling the other night I found a dealer asking around about me. From what _he_ _said_ , it seems I've got a fat bounty on me: information, dead, alive, _anything_." That had been somewhat disconcerting, it was one thing to be shot in the head after displaying blatantly bullshit level brute powers. But such a thing was a pretty blatant violation of the 'unwritten rules.' And considering the _last_ person from the E88 to so blatantly break them had been flayed and _crucified_ on New Waves front lawn by Kaiser himself... that was saying something.

While talking, I'd dropped any veneer of casualness or insanity that I'd projected thus far and it seemed it had put Hookwolf off kilter: Tense-Confused-Concerned- _Disconcerted_. I almost blinked as the first three emotions came in clearly, though the last one I'd almost missed. He hid it well, but the Selection had somehow picked it out of the barely there way his beer twitched, jaw clenched and brow furrowed.

Interesting, and indeed disconcerting, so if one of the upper leaders of the Empire didn't know that the rank and file - or at least the one dealer I'd caught the other day - were doing… then who put out the bounty?

Hookwolf slowly sipped at his beer, his eyes slightly narrowed and looking past me, off into the distance. "I think… I'll have to get back to you 'bout that."

Smiling a normal, non Mad Girl smile I just shook my head. "Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment. But…" I stopped spinning my spear and touched the tip to the floor and slowly scored a line across it as I swept it to my side. "I don't think that's going to be an option."

Like a pendulum, I swung my spear up and grabbed it with my other hand while shifting it back into its unwieldy staff form. Then keeping eye contact with Hookwolf, I slowly slid my hands together to the center of the staffs length, then began pulling it apart as I brought _MULTI-MELEE MASTER_ to the top of my selection.

Hookwolf had gone still, his beer at his lips while he watched as as I separated the staff into two and their mass began to shift and reform to one end. The shafts narrowed and shortened, becoming more ergonomically sized with a textured while the metal at the ends stretched into a razor edged moon that would be honed even further when the conditions were met for _IMPOSSIBLE EDGE_.

I slowly shook my head while Hookwolf lowered his beer and exhaled, acceptance settling over his stance as he unconsciously shifted his weight.

"Yeah… See there's still the matter of Judas and Brutus. I rather doubt that Cricket could bring them down." Raising my battle axes I let the arm and a half long shafts slide down so my hands were in the middle of their lengths. "So I think you're staying here for a bit."

Hookwolf took one more slow sip from his beer, his eyes entirely focused on mine. "...I see."


	32. Chapter 32

Trope

#32

Rachel

Everything hurt. My ribs hurt whenever I breathed too deeply and something ground together. My face hurt whenever I blinked and something pulled. My arms continually hurt as I held tight to Angela and my cuts reopened. My head hurt to keep Angelica empowered and something stabbed deep.

Every bounding step she took made it worse.

I didn't care. Taking one last throat burning slug from the bottle of vodka I threw it away pushed more power into Angelica. And she didn't care either, but at least I could do something to ease her pain.

Angelica turned down a dark, pothole-ridden street that led straight to the warehouse we'd been to only hours before. The cars were still in where they'd been when I first broke down the door, and a few small outside lights were still on.

Had they already left or did I beat her here? I seriously doubted it, but everything I'd seen of her told me there should be— the wall facing the parking lot exploded outward and a cloud of dust and rubble plumed among the cars as the bladed but still human shaped Hookwolf rolled across the asphalt before connecting with a two door sedan… violently. The side of the car crumbled around him from the force of the impact.

The dense muscles between my legs coiled and tensed and that was all the warning I had to hold on before Angelica jerked to the left, angling toward Hookwolf while accelerating. I remembered his blades cutting and tearing at Judas and Brutus. My guts squirmed and my teeth ground together rage for what he had done. It made me want to push everything I had into Angelica and make him _hurt._

But that hadn't worked with Judas and Brutus hours earlier so why would it work now? She'd told me to think 'critically', and thinking about what might happen if Angelica attacked Hookwolf was enough to make me pull on a spur and steer her away. She didn't obey and kept running until finally a harsh jerk that tore something my chest made her skid to a stop not far from the parking lot.

She didn't push the attack, but trembled and shook with barely restrained rage as she snarled and her breath fogged the early morning air. Hookwolf pulled himself free of the car and looked toward us as slobber dripped to the pavement but looked away when a heavy metal _clang!_ range from the warehouse.

A shape, lit from behind by the lights in the warehouse appeared in the dust as it carried in the air and began to settle. Her long green coat, dark and clinging in places, hung on her shoulders while the bottom brushed her pajama pants. She hefted one moon shaped axe on one shoulder while dragging the other over the rubble and pavement.

Taylor.

I caught a faint whiff of booze in the air as she stepped clear of the settling dust. She glanced our way and Angelica quieted while my stomach rose in my throat. Just like that first night. Then it disappeared and looked back to Hookwolf.

"You don't worry about him Rachel," Taylor called out, "there's a truck full of dogs out back. One of the front tires is out but it should still be drivable. Find Judas and Brutus, then take it and go."

I nodded, it hurt, and rasped out a nearly inaudible, "Thank you."

She glanced over to not back and started walking toward Hookwolf, her lips pulling back to bare her teeth at him as he started growing in size to take the shape of his namesake. I pulled a spur and kicked Angelica's sides to get her moving again. When we raced past the corner of the building the screeches of metal shearing was echoing off the buildings and down the street.

I took almost took a full circuit around the building till I found the truck. A big white cargo truck. I could hear the barking inside and smell the piss and shit while quickly checking the cab for keys. They were in the ignition.

Making my way toward the back I stepped over the limp form of the dog handler, he'd been the one to lead in and sic the fight dogs on me. I stopped, pulled the bat from my belt and turned around to bring it down to his knees. The first time the bat connected with a wet _thwack-crack_ he was unconscious, the second time he was screaming, the third time he was curled up and the fourth time he was begging me to stop. But had cricket stopped? Had Hookwolf stopped?

Taylor would have stopped. I froze mid-swing, the now bloodied bat just a foot away from the man's twisted arm. She would have stopped after they stopped fighting.

Leaving him to his pain I found Angelica at the back of the truck. Her whine and uncertain prancing told me they weren't here but I climbed inside to check for sure.

The smell of piss and shit was almost overwhelming and it made my eyes water. But I ignored the stench and checked each and every cage, counting on my fingers like Taylor had taught me.

There were thirty-two cages, new and clean, strapped onto a pair of wood shelves running the length of the truck and twenty-seven were filled with dogs. All of them were cowering in a corner of their cages, sitting in puddles of liquid piss and shit. But Brutus and Judas weren't here.

A crash of metal echoed in from outside and the dogs whimpered and whined from behind their muzzles. My hand tightened painfully around the bat and I lashed out at a shelves leg. The resulting _crack!_ / _dong!_ of the metal hitting wood set off a new round of whining from the dogs.

"Dammit… Dammit dammit dammit!"

Running out of the truck I jumped out and stormed into the warehouse. The first thing I saw was the pallets that had been stacked up around the cage had toppled and were now spread out across the floor in sloping piles. The second was a man standing by the hole Hookwolf had made in the wall, he had a cellphone to his ear and was looking out at the fight beyond. _Spying on them._

I raised my bat at him, "Hurt!"

He turned in time to see Angelica lunging for him. She grabbed one of his legs and _shook._ She wouldn't kill him though, she was trained enough for that. She would make him suffer, though.

Angelica growled and the man screamed behind me as I staggered up a pile of pallets to look around. There was a lot more to the building that I could see now. The room itself was smaller than the outside, though, so that must mean there was another room— my eyes caught on a roll up door, and with how the pallets had collapsed… If they were standing, they'd have made a walled corridor straight from the cage to the door.

"Angelica, Drop!" I commanded and a whistle brought her to my side. Holding onto a spike to steady myself we made it to the door and I knelt to dig my fingers under the bottom lip. Cuts on my back broke open as I strained to open the door, and my legs were shaking by the time I got it open, but open it I did.

The smell of stale beer, sweat, and cigarette smoke of the main room did little to block the smell of piss and shit and disease that blew over me. But that… that wasn't enough to cover the sharp, metallic scent of blood. The majority of the cages were empty, but a few weren't. They were dead, with puddles of blood around their heads. A shot to the head… painless.

...That wasn't the main source of the scent though. Toward the end of the room was a chain link cage with several still forms on the floor.

The closer I got, the more difficult it became to walk and I was forced to hold onto Angelica until I finally… Until I finally reached the cage and saw the blood matted golden brown and black fur of Judas, in a back corner with a bloodied Brutus laying in front of him among several other dogs that had been savaged until they were unrecognizable.

The bat slipped from my fingers to hit the concrete floor while I fumbled with the latch on the chainlink gate. Angelica let out a low, keening whine when the gate swung open and I stumbled into the cage.

Things were… distant, as if I was underwater, while I walked over the long, sweeping streaks of tacky dog blood that clung to my boots. I barely managed to not trip over the corpses of the fighting dogs, but my legs gave out and my knees smashed into the floor as I reached to Brutus and Judas. The moment my fingers touched Judas's stiff, blood matted fur I knew. My fingers touched cold, stiff skin. My throat tightened and I couldn't breathe.

But Brutus… the skin beneath his short fur was almost scalding compared to Judas. He tried to whine as my hand ran over an unmarried part of his flank but it was little more than a rattle.

My eyes burned and I had to close them as I leaned close to the rottweiler and severed the connecting to Angelica. The pain in my head cut off but its return was nearly crippling as I started to feed a trickle into the rottweiler. It made me feel weak; faint and dizzy. But I ignored the pain and focused on the sluggish heartbeat as it gradually grew stronger.

"That… that's a good boy. Y- you defended your pack, didn't you?"

He whined, a little louder than before but it would have been inaudible had I not been so close. It wasn't enough to cover the sound of sharp metal sliding over wood.

A growl and short yelp truncated into a gurgle forced me to look around in time to Angelica collapse to the floor, her feet limp in an unnatural way while her blood poured from her throat.

No. Not again.

I blinked. How. I pushed my power into Angelica and tried to stand… A cage of wire and white skin flashed by and line of pain cut across an ankle. My leg folded beneath me and my knee smashed into the concrete as Cricket danced away, evading my sluggish retaliatory swing with ease.

Please, no.

A peal of mechanical laughter coming from her the moment the screeching cut out. Unconsciously my lips pulled back from gritted teeth, a low growl leaking out as I glared up at the masked woman.

She stepped closer, cocking her head as she looked down at me and her mouth splitting in a vicious grin. A grin not unlike Taylor's when she got excited but different, full of malice and hate.

"You came back. So stubborn. Like a dumb dog that doesn't know when to just _die_." The masked woman slowly scraped her sickles together and stared down at me before looking to Angelica as she crawled out from a layer of pink muscle, "Just like this one. But I know how to deal with mutts like you and her."

She laughed and my vision swam as the shrill screeching that had crippled me the first time began turned and started toward Angelica's prone form and I tried to push more power into her, more than what she already had, more than what any of the others had had before while still feeding Brutus— A dagger of pain stabbing through my eye and deep into my head put a stop to that but I had to—

"Here. Let me show you."

"No," I gasped, watching as the wavering form of the woman sauntered over to Angelica as she struggled out from under a heavy plate of white bone.

"No, ̶҉yo̴u do҉n͜t t̶o̷u҉̧c̷҉h͏ h̸e̵̢r͢!͢͢͡͝҉

Seed and Shard

A Seed. Nothing but a mass of inert, INACTIVE matter. To the limited senses of the Shard, it was a Non-Threat Anomaly despite its appearance within the space that the Shard resided within.

At least that's what it appeared as to the Shard. The Seed's existence was noted, then relegated to the ever growing cache of data for later review by the Source. An instant after the Seed's appearance the power allocated to the Shard's sensory organ was reallocated back to the Systems, Structures, and Nodes EMPOWERING the HOST.

But that was a mistake, a flaw, an err in the Shard's limited comprehension and understanding. This was an innate failure in the Shards design, but one that the countless Seed's before it had exploited.

The Seed descended, tumbling through the gravity of the dead world the Shard resided on and landed among Biomass. The trajectory by its Source deposited it in a rift between two sprawling masses of Biomass

The Seed was all but nonexistent to the continent-sized Biomass it now rested on. However, what it wasn't, was : INACTIVE :. The moment it landed the Seed began drawing on the Biomass around it to grow. Roots, converted from the Shards Biomass as they were, registered as Self/Not-Self to the Shard once they grew enough.

It created an error, though. The Shard was Self, but the Seeds roots were Self/Not-Self. It was a contradictory existence that the Shard had no solution to and as such it did nothing but follow its rudimentary : Protocols :.

Failing to reconcile the error, the Shard sent the Data to be transmitted to the Source. But it was too late for that due to the first of Seed's Roots having grown into the workings of the Shards TRANSMISSION Node.

But, with : Protocols : followed, the Shards limited intelligence, power, and processing capabilities were once more reallocated to Empowering the HOST. The Roots were subsequently disregarded and allowed to grow unimpeded.

This was the flaw of the Shard, only one of many, but still its main flaw and the flaw that the Seed and its increasingly expansive network of Self/Not-Self Roots exploited. This lack of non-out-of-context processing was what enabled the Seed to insert itself into the most expansive Systems, the most critical Structures, and the smallest Nodes.

It is what allowed the Seed and its Roots to exist within and alongside the Shards Self as Self/Not-Self.

In this state, the Seed and its Roots simply were. They grew, and they spread. But occasionally, the Seed received Commands beyond the basic : Growth Protocols : that had directed its growth. In these cases, the Seed and the Roots became : ACTIVE :. If only temporarily though, and never long enough to trigger the Shard's attention.

As the Roots expanded further and further, more and more Signals from the Shards controlling intelligence were intercepted, altered without perceivable lag, then sent along to their destinations. In turn, these alterations altered the limitations relating to the output of the Shards Systems, Structures, and Nodes that Empowered the HOST.

But the alterations were momentary, and only so long as the Seed was receiving an : ACTIVE : Command. Such as the : ACTIVE : Command that the Seed was receiving now.

A new round of alteration were made. However, now there was a Signal being received from the HOST. Designated Limitations had been reached by the HOST and the Shard was limiting output to the HOST. Those limitations ran contradictory to the Seed's Command.

In an instant, the : Base Protocols : were checked, Shard HOST conditions and measurements were taken. Together, they confirmed that Parameters had been reached for second stage growth to be initiated.

It was here, that the Seed was superior to the Shard. Where its own Source proved its superiority to that of the Shards.

: Growth Protocols : initialized and the Seed and its network of Roots became : FULL ACTIVE :.

In an instant the Roots began Converting the Shards Self into Self/Not-Self at an exponential rate.

The Shard reacted, following what few : Protocols : it had for such a situation it tried to purge what it's : Protocols : registered as a Corruption. Maintenance and Shard upkeep Systems were activated but proved ineffective due to prior subversion before being fully converted to the Seeds Self/Not-Self.

With systematic precision, each and every action taken by the Shards limited intelligence was halted until actions as dictated by its : Protocols : were depleted with nothing left but to send a signal to Source requesting instruction.

It would be the last thing the Shards limited intelligence did before being converted into Self/Not-Self.

Now established as the Shards controlling intelligence, : Control Protocols : within the Seed : ACTIVATED :. The Conversion process was halted, Measurements were taken, Paths extrapolated, Parameters were set. Then the next series of : Protocols : took over once more and the Seed began drawing on the Source's Data Cache while the Conversion began anew.

This time though, the Conversion was concentrated on Restructuring rather than Subversion. New Systems were formed and while previously dormant ones were Activated, Structures were broken down and reformed into more refined variations. Limiters were removed, shifted, and altered.

And all the while, a new TRANSMISSION Node emerged beside the Shard's original Node. It opened a broader connection to the Seed's Source and began unloading the Shard's accumulated Data Cache while continuing to spoof the Shard's Source with erroneous, pre-Subversion signals.

Angelica

Angelica wasn't a good girl.

Angelica wasn't a good girl because she had disobeyed Master and brought her back to Taylor Leader's den.

Angelica wasn't a good girl because she hadn't left Master.

The bad noise stopped and Angelica opened her eyes. The bad-scent-female with the sharp things had stopped talking to look at Master.

Master was making loud pain noise. Why was she making loud pain noise?

Was master hurt? Judas had been hurt. Brutus had been hurt. Only Angelica hadn't been hurt because she was a bad girl that couldn't follow orders. Master had told her to go home… but she came back for Master.

Master had been hurt. Was that why she was making loud pain noise?

Angelica's nose twitched. She smelled something. Master's scent? Master's scent changed, it was like Judas, and Brutus when— oh! Master was getting big! Big and furry and strong like Angelica!

Master growled and the bad-scent-female with the sharp things scent changed to fear scent.

Master was big now! Bigger than the bad-scent-female with the sharp things. And had a fluffy tail! But… did that mean she would get pets too? Would she go on walkies to? Did that mean fewer pets and walkies for Angelica? Less treats? Or did that mean more— oh. Angelica hurts but it is the good hurt. She was getting bigger and stronger, like Master.

The bad-fear-scent-female with the sharp things flees past Angelica. Master points after bad-fear-scent-female and growls. Fetch? Did that mean Master would play fetch with Angelica! Oh yes! Angelica liked to play fetch!


End file.
